


Standing Right Back Up Again

by CSmurf



Category: Voltron - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Developing Relationship, Eventual Smut, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2018-11-30 19:21:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 67,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11470044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CSmurf/pseuds/CSmurf
Summary: Aleah has lost everything... her husband, her best friend, her team... she swears that never again will she let someone into her heart the way her friends and husband once was... but one by one, those walls come tearing down.(I do not have a general time in the series pin pointed for this, I’ve kind of just been going with it)





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

They didn't know what they were getting into. They were heading towards a distress signal that recently came into range. Being the heroes they were, team Voltron headed off to an isolated planet. A dark gloomy purple and coal colored planet.

They didn't know who they were going to meet, or what kind of psychological mess they were getting themselves into... they just knew that it was their job to help people.

They landed on the planet right next to what looked like a small escape pod, big enough to maybe fit five people wall to wall. Upon investigation, they found a woman huddled under a few thin blankets, clearly asleep. 

Shiro, the leader, took it upon himself to wake her up to tell her she is saved. He knocked on the door. She groaned and sat up, half awake.

"Who is it?" She called, sounding as if she was answering a door.

"Um.... we're team Voltron." He spoke loud and clearly. "Did you deploy a distress signal?"

She was quiet. They could see her silhouette siting still before throwing the blanket off of her and grumbling to herself as she went to open the escape pod.

"Thank fucking god! That shit has been beeping non-stop! I have tried shutting it off, but low and behold! Right when I'm ready to die of starvation, hypothermia, insanity and possibly a fucking parasite!!! You assholes show u-"

She stopped as she opened the door and saw her saviors. A quick survey of their faces left her speechless for a moment before a frown returned to her face.

"You're all human...." she pointed out.

"And so are you..." Pidge replied.

"What are you doing this far from Earth?" Keith asked suspiciously.

"I could ask you the same thing..." Her tone mocked his.

"We are team Voltron." Shiro held his hand out to her. "We're hear to save you."

She squinted as she looked at him, as if she was trying to analyze him. Before he started to feel too uncomfortable, she introduced herself as Aleah.

They showed her the way to the ship and she walked in without hesitation. They took her straight to Allura.

Allura, as always, greeted her in the kindest of manners. She introduced herself and everyone aboard the ship.

"My name is Aleah, princess Allura and I...." she placed her finger to her ear, trying to soothe it from a ringing she was starting to hear. "I'm very greatful that you have found m-" the noise continuing as the ship started to rise into the air. "Me.... I was beginning to loose ho- WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!?"

They jumped at her sudden out burst.

"I'm sorry?" Allura asked. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Do you seriously not hear that?!"

Hunk started to look a little nervous. The stranger they picked up was hearing things… This couldn't be good.

"Do you seriously not hear that high-pitched noise?"

The paladins looked confused, until Lance's face contorted into one of disgust and annoyance.

"AW DAMMIT NOW I HEAR IT!" He groaned. 

Then Pidge noticed. "You know, I think I remember hearing that noise when we first came on the ship. I got so used to it that I forgot about it."

It wasn't much longer until everyone was hearing the noise. It was then that the new stranger started walking towards one of the panels next to the controls.

"What are you doing?" Coran asked.

"Somethings wrong with your warp stabilizer… It shouldn't be making that noise… it should be making more of a… Low hum."

She pried open the box, alarming everyone else.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Cried Coran.

"Chill out, I'm a ship technician." She grumbled, taking the screwdriver out of her pants pocket. " I used to fix this type of shenanigans all the time. Nothing more than to unplug here… Put it back… Twist this left… And then…" The noise stopped. It's placed was a simple subtle low hum.

She stood back up, dusting her pants off. "There… Consider that payment for finding me."

"The ship is thousands of years old!" Coran informed her, slightly shocked. "How could you have possibly known how to fix something like that?"

"Old technology or not… Things still tend to work the same way." She pulled her hair back, putting her long red dreads into a ponytail. "Princess I hope you don't find me rude, but I'm very exhausted… Is there somewhere I could possibly sleep tonight?"

"Woah woah woah." Keith stepped in. "We brought you in here for questioning. We've had bad experiences with picking up hitchhikers and the fact that you had the knowledge to fix it 10,000-year-old ship doesn't help your case."

Allura smiled softly. "I'm afraid he's correct, Aleah. Although, understanding your current situation, I'm willing to let you sleep for the next few hours. Of course if you don't mind if we take a safety precaution and lock your door."

"That's fine by me" she groaned. "I just want some sleep."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

After Aleah had her rest, she asked for a private audience with the princess. Coran, being the protective type he was, would only allow it if he were in the room with them. She accepted these terms and they talked in private in the princess' quarters.

It was there that they sat down and further interrogated her. She didn't lie. She told them how she was on that planet for a week, scraping by on the emergency rations. She told them how her crew had died. She explained that her crew came across an odd creature that would later dig itself in one of their skulls, making them go feral. The infected teammate would attack anyone who came to close to them in a murderous rampage and was able to multiply itself by biting others to grow its ranks and infect more hosts.

Aleah was able to bite threw the tears as she kept the more personal, truest heartbreaking details to herself.

"Do you have anywhere that you consider home?" The princess asked, sympathy laced in her voice.

It was then that Aleah understood what kind of situation she was in. She had nowhere to go. Her family wouldn't talk to her, the only people that she considered family were now dead. She had nowhere to go.

That's when the princess came up with a simple solution. She would stay with them. She explained how the ship was in constant need of repair, and "Pidge" couldn't possibly do it alone. Aleah having nowhere else to go, agreed. And the deal was made. The princess and Coran would spend the rest of this time explaining what it is that Team Voltron was fighting for.

"Why trust me though?" She asked suspiciously. "I appreciate your kindness princess, but you don't know me… I could be one of the bad guys and you're just letting me live on your ship?"

The princess giggled. "Let's just say I have a few friends keeping an eye on everything…" she winked. "Not a single thing happens on the ship without me knowing about it."

And with that very… Vague… Reply she was officially invited to join team Voltron in the fight against the Galra.

Fast forward to a month and a half.

The team were warned to give Aleah some space. All they were told was that she was a survivor from a massive accident, and that she would be joining the team as a mechanic, making the rounds around the ship making sure everything was running the way it should.

Coran at first, was skeptical of the entire idea. A total stranger living on the ship! How absurd! But after showing her around, and showing her the ins and outs of the ship, he was quite flattered by the many questions she had about how the ship ran. Nothing major, just "what should I look out for" "is this supposed to sound like this" and "if this happens what would I do?"

Of course Team Voltron being Team Voltron, they were curious about her. A few weeks into her stay, they thought they may actually try to get to know her. Bad idea.

"That's none of your business."

Hunk gulped. "O....k.... so where are you from? I mean obviously Earth but I mean... like wheeeeeere on Ear-"

"None. Of. Your. Business." She glared at him. "Now if you don't mind, I have my rounds to do."

She tried to scrape past him only to have Keith cut into her path.

"Hey, you just walk onto our ship and kept to yourself for weeks. I think that warrants some kind of questioning." He looked annoyed.

"What it doesn't warrant is rude behavior." Pidge glared at her.

Aleah grabbed Keith by the collar.

"Listen up here buddy! I have been watched like a hawk by you jerks or the princesses little pets,"

He jerked out of her grasp. She continued.

"If I wanted to cause a problem, I would have done it already don't ya think? Now get out of my way before I make a problem!"

She pushed past them, grumbling about them being pains in the ass.

"What the hell is her problem?" Pidge's eyes narrowed.

These kinda of meetings happened often. Someone from the team would approach her with friendship and she would either glare, rudely tell them off, or leave the room in a haste.

The team was starting to get really sick of it.

...............................

-A two days later-

"Hey." A voice stopped her in the hall way.

She turned to face Shiro.

"What?" She asked coldly.

"I think it's time you and I had a talk." He looked down at her, his leader like qualities beginning to show as he towered at least a foot taller than her.

"No thanks." She turned around again starting to walk back to her room.

He followed her out of the living room quarters because of her recent run in with Pidge. They argued about how the ships mechanics were running. Both wanting to do something one way or another. Eventually, Aleah just told Pidge that she should stick to her programming and leave the big kid work to her. Pidge screamed in annoyance as Aleah turned to walk out.

"You are such a Bitch you know!" Pidge shouted after her.

"No shit." Aleah yelled without turning back.

That's when Shiro followed her. The last straw.

"This behavior needs to stop. You're treating my team like crap, and for what? They're just trying to be nice to you!" He followed her down the hall.

"Well your team needs to mind their own fucking business. I'm here to do a job, not to get chummy with your friends!"

She stormed towards her room and typed her access code.

"It's because of my friends that you're alive!" He reminded her as she stepped into her room.

She spun around, glaring right into his eyes.

"I didn't ask to be saved you know! If I knew how to disable a simple fucking distress beacon, I would have let myself die. I didn't WANT to be saved!"

Shiro was taken aback. He wasn't expecting that type of response.

"I'm here to pay my debt to the princess. I have no where to go, no planet, no family, nothing! All I have is here! And I still don't want to get attached to any of you! You are just flesh and blood..."

He didn't know what to say.

"Aleah, I-"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, ok? I'll leave them alone, I'll do my rounds at night. Just please respect that I don't want anything to do you guys. No trying to be friends, no getting to know eachother... I've already lost so much."

"I don't think that's a very healthy way of-"

"Goodnight, Shiro." She pressed a button to slide the door shut.

*GLANK*

Shiro's robotic arm stopped the door from shutting just as it started to shut. She jumped in surprise.

"Alright, I get it. You don't want to talk about it. You went threw a traumatic experience, no one can fault you on that. But.... if you need some one to talk to..." 

She chuckled darkly.

"No offense Shiro, but I may be a little too fucked up to share my feelings with you."

He chuckled. "You'd be surprised with how much fucked up I could handle.... offer still stands."

She sighed. "You always were so considerate, Shiro." His brow furrowed in confusion. "Maybe some other time. Goodnight."

".... good night." He let the door shut.

He muttered to himself. ".... have we met before?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Two weeks later after some battles against the Galra, small distress signals answered, and a couple of supply pick ups. Aleah kept her word and stayed out of sight.

For the first week, Shiro struggled with thoughts of possibly trying to talk to her again. She clearly had some mental baggage, and maybe because Shiro knew what that was like that he wanted to help her with it. But in the end, he thought it best to leave her and maybe she'll come to him.

He had some short run ins with her at night. He'll be leaving the training room, or having a late night snack and she'd be walking by, reading over her notes of things needing to be done.

Awkward "hey"s and silent nods would pass between them, but never a real conversation to Shiros disappointment. Although, over that time, shiro started thinking about what she said before.

"You've always been a considerate guy, Shiro" she sounded so... familiar with him. She could have meant in the time that she joined the ship, but.... that was their first real conversation?

Pidge shouted, waking him from his thoughts. "Shiro, look!" She pointed out of the viewing window in the lounge into deep space.

"What?" He tried to looked where she was pointing.

"There! See it?!"

Shiro squinted his eyes trying to look harder. And then he saw it.

"Is that a... ship?" He looked back to Pidge.

"I believe so... it looks abandoned. It has so many dents in it, as if it floated through a meteor shower."

"We should check it out, see if there is anyone on it."

Pidge nodded and Shiro called the crew together.

\----------------------

Team Voltron prepared to visit the ship. Allura brought the castle closer and connected the two ships with and extending tunnel.

"Ok team." Her voice filled their helmets. "Here's the plan. You get in, look for any survivors, and find out what happened. Stick together and be prepared for anything!"

They gave a verbal recognition or their orders and walked threw the tunnel to the old ship.

-Aleah-

I woke up early. It was still 6pm in Earth hours, and I didn't normally start working until 11pm.

"Might as well start now." I convinced myself.

Once I was out in the halls, I started to wander to the control center where I knew Allura would be to revive my orders for the night. Instead I was met with her leading Team Voltron in a search and cease mission.

I dropped my clip board when I saw the ship.

"What are you doing?" I gasped.

Allura turned around. "Oh, Aleah! You're up early! We found this ship and the team is doing a quick survivor search to- Aleah? Where are you going?"

I ran as fast as I could to the port. Ripping one of Allura's helmets off the wall, I quickly pulled it on and activated, hoping I wasn't too late.

-Shiro-

There were bodies.... three of them. They looked like a corpse from a horror movie. Unfortunately, in our travels, we have seen worse. There were two in the hall, and one in the control room. No identification. They all had a similar wound in there skull, a hole made from a laser gun. Someone shot and killed these people and left them to rot in space.

"This is so barbaric...." Keith muttered.

"How is everyone?" I checked in with them, this could not be settling to be around.

"I feel a little sick but I can handle it." Pidge confirmed.

"I.... I'm fine." Lance spoke lowly.

"I think ill be fine, they just... look so tortured." Hunk spoke.

"We should check through any saved files in the ship. Maybe we can find the bastard who did this." Pidge suggested.

"How long do you need?" I asked him.

"Done." She piped, already hacking the computer. "Uploading to screen."

It was the control room. Two people were already in it. A girl with ivory skin and crimped hair, and a brunette boy with light skin, both sitting in the seats. The girl was reading and the guy was playing on some game system.

"They're human!" Lance gasped.

"And they're from the garrison!" Keith pointed to their uniforms.

"Wait that looks like..." I began to notice.

Someone else walks into the room. A tall, dark, well built man walks in. "Hey Travis, Trish, have you seen Ally?"

"Holy..." I gasp, startling my team. "I know them."

"What? Are you sure?" Lance questioned.

"They were the same year as me in the garrison!" I pointed to the guy who walked in. "That's Dwight Santiago... he was a good friend of mine in the garrison, an amazing pilot. which means..." I looked behind me to the corpse in the corner. "Oh no..."

I covered my hand over my mouth. "These bodies were... one of us."

Pidge placed a comforting hand on my arm. I clenched my jaw and turned to her.

"Keep playing the footage, we need to know who did this."

Pidge nodded and continued the footage.

"No I haven't. Have you tried look in between your sheets?" The other male joked. "Because she sure spends a lot of time there."

The girl bursts into laughter. Dwight approaches him and smacks him upside the head.

"Yeah well at least I got a pretty little thing in the sheets. You still haven't pulled a move on Trish yet!"

The other two stopped laughing and blushed.

"ITS NOT LIKE THAT!" They both yelled.

"Staaaaaahp!" Another male walked in. "Why are we yelling?"

"Daniel doesn't have anyone in his bed either!" Trish pointed out.

"Woah what?" He looked taken aback. "Why are we talking about this?"

Travis shrugged. "Captain Dwight here was making fun of us for not having a bed buddy like him."

Laughter could be heard out of the shot. Another girl walks in.

"Whaaaaat the fuck are we talking about?" She smiled mischievously.

It was Aleah.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Holy. Shit." Lance muttered.

"There's my darling!" Dwight greeted her, pulling her in for a kiss.

"Yes it's me." She giggled. "Now, my dear husband, why are we talking about bed buddies?"

"Of course." I muttered to myself. "Why didn't I notice?"

"Did you know about this, Shiro?" Hunk asked.

"No, I just- she looked familiar..." I groaned to myself. "I mean, she changed her hair quiet a lot but. She was dating Dwight back at the garrison."

"So wait... if that’s Aleah then..." Pidge spoke slowly. "This was her teams ship. We’re standing in a graveyard of those close to her."

"Oh god..." Keith muttered, weight from this reality sinking in.

"Pidge," I spoke with authority. "Fast forward. Find out what happened. Who did this."

She nodded. "Going to last hours of ship activity."

The ship was quite. Footage from the control room was on display. The room was empty.

The doors slid open and Dwight was shoved backwards.

"Aleah, please! Stop!" He pleaded.

Aleah walked in with a gun. "Shut up!"

In his scramble backwards, he fell back. She stood over him, gun in hand and tears running down her face.

"Please baby, it's me! I love you, don't do this!"

"Sh-shut up! You're not him! You took him from me!"

"Aleah it's me! I promise! I would never hurt you! Think about what you're doing!"

"You're not him! .... you're not him..." her tears became thicker. "I'm sorry, Dwight. I love you. Please remember that."

“WAIT ALEAH-!”

She pulled the trigger. His body dropped to the floor, she dropped to her knees and cried.

"I'm sorry baby! I'm sorry! Please, please, PLEASE I'm sorry! I want to take it all back... I'm.. im sorry!" She dropped onto his chest.

 

"She killed him..." Keith muttered.

"She killed them all." Pidge added. "Look."

He showed footage of her killing the rest of her team as they begged for mercy. One of them tried to grab her and stop her, to which she blasted a laser threw their stomach.

"She killed her team! She's a murderer and we left her alone on the ship with Allura!" Hunk yelled. "We have to-"

I stepped in. "No, there's more to this. There has to be. Allura mentioned something about a parasite, Pidge go through inventory logs and any private logs attached."

Pidge nodded and started to furiously type away on the keyboard. After a minute, she stopped.

"Here."

She brought up a captains audio log.

"Captain's log number 233." Dwights voice spoke clearly.

"Oh my god..." Aleah could be heard from the background. "Who are you? Kirk?" She laughed.

"Hotter!" He laughed. "Anyway, we found a deserted planet that once was known to have held life. Dead plants and animals everywhere. The only survivor was a bug we found living off an animal carcass. Our mission was to go planet to planet incubating rare life forms, and we've never seen this one. We are bringing it back to Earth to be analyzed."

"If we can find Earth." Her soft voice giggled again.

A soft smack was heard followed by a giggle.

"Dwight!" She laughed.

"Hey, if I want to smack my wife's ass on our anniversary, I can." 

"......"

".... if that's alright with you that is."

They burst out into laughter.

"Happy anniversary, darling." He spoke softly.

"Happy anniversary, Dwight." From the sound, they kissed. "Married to your ass for one whole year..."

"Aren't you lucky! Whoops still recording."

-end transmission-

"This is all the footage to come." Pidge pointed out before playing scenes out.

Daniel was inspecting the insect when it jumped and dug a hole under his brow bone into his brain. He became more aggressive, angrier with everyone. He eventually attacked Travis, who then became the same. Angry and aggressive. Then it was Trish who was infected. At this point, conference room footage showed Aleah and Dwight speaking in whispers. They knew what was happen and what had to be done. The only way to help their feral friends would be to take them out of their misery.

The door broke down and Travis attacked them. Dwight threw himself In front of Aleah, saving her from infection.

He begged her to run, find a room and protect herself. After small delay she ran into what could be guessed was her bedroom.

No footage could be found of the bedroom.

"I found a personal log saved in the ship." Pidge pointed out before going straight to playing it.

A close up of Aleah's crying form.

"If anyone finds this, please give this to my parents! Give it to the garrison on earth and tell them to give it to my parents please!

Mom, dad, I know I'm not perfect, I know this isn't what you wanted for me, but I just want you to know, that what may be my last thoughts, are of you. I love you both and I'm so sorry. But I love him and he was worth it. He was worth it all. I'm sorry and I love you both."

"Aleah!" There was banging on the door that she was leaning against. She jumped, startled. "Aleah baby, it's me! Let me in! They're trying to kill me!"

"No!" She screamed. "You're not him! I won't fall for it again."

"Don't let me die, Aleah. Please! Save me!" He pleaded.

"IM NOT FALLING FOR IT!!"

Her body burst forward as a hard blow was put against the door followed by an angry scream.

"LET ME IN YOU BITCH! YOU CANT HIDE FOREVER! JUST GIVE UP AND JOIN YOUR FRIENDS! THEYRE WAITING FOR YOU IN HELL!" Dwights voice laughed.

She covered her ears and shook her head violently.

\- end transmission-

"And that leads us back here." Pidge spoke to the silent crowd. "She didn’t kill her friends, she freed them of the parasites control..."

"And I thought that...." Hunk spoke to himself. "I honestly thought she was a murderer... god I feel so horrible!"

We all grew silent as the final moment with her husband came back on the screen. Tears welled up in our eyes and we all wished this would some how end differently... but it didn't. She still ended up in a puddle of her husbands blood, crying and begging for forgiveness.

"Aleah..." Lance's voice caught our attention. 

He was looking to the back of the room, we followed his eye sight and saw her standing there, trembling, eyes not moving from the screen. Her struggled whimpering could be heard from her helmet, while she tried to cover the speaker in her helmet with her hand over her mouth piece.

"Aleah, oh my god-" Hunk tried to reach out for her but her knees gave out and she dropped to the floor still trembling.

"You shouldn't be he-here" she tried to speak. "There could still be- oh god...." her attention was caught on Dwight dried body from the time space had to absorb all its oxygen. She screamed bloody murder. "Oh god! DWIGHT! Oh my fucking god!" She took off into a run.

"Aleah! Wait!" I ran after her down the corridors. She had quite the head start because she was no where to be found.

-3rd POV-

She ducked into her old bedroom. Still shaking and sobbing. The image of her decomposed lover still fresh in her mind.

She did that.

She killed them.

He was dead because of her.

She called herself a murderer.

"I tried!" She thought to herself while staring at his garrison photo. "I tried to live without you, but I can't! I'm a monster! I was the very evil that took you away from me... and I can't live with that... I'm so sorry my darling!"

With shaking hands, she reached for the latches of her helmet. She had to. This was the only way. She couldn't live without him anymore.

She touched the clasps of her helmet. All she had to do was lift the helmet and the vacuum of space will suffocate her.

She clicked the clasps and began to raise her helmet. She took one last deep breath before the helmet hissed releasing air. She instantly felt the air ripped from her lungs for 1/4 of a second before the helmet was violently shoved back down on her head by a pair of hands.

She took a deep breath as her helmet pumped more air into it immediately.

She looked up at a wide eyed Shiro.

"ALEAH WHAT THE HELL!" He screamed at her. When he received no response, he tried again.

"Did you just try to-"

"Just leave me." She mumbled, pushing his shoulder away from her.

"What? No! Come on im taking you back to the ship." He tried to pull her up to which she fought against him.

"No! No! Just leave me to die! I deserve it, just leave me and go!"

"You don't deserve to die." He reassured her. "This wasn't your fault."

A sudden sharp pull brought her to her feet.

"And whether you like it or not, you're one of us now Aleah. I can't just let you go like that." He picked her up and carried her out.

As they walked threw the corridor, he whispered to her.

"Cover your eyes."

She did as we was told. The big step he took told her that he was stepping over what must be Daniel's body. She waited until she was back in the ship to open them. There the team was waiting for her. They all looked at her with pity. She hated it.

She just glared at them all one by one as she stomped past them. She locked herself in her room and refused to talk to anyone who knocked.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A light knock came from the door.

"Aleah," he calmly called out to her. "It's Shiro. I know you said you didn't want to talk to anyone but..." he cleared his throat, thinking of what to say. "We latched the ship onto the castle for you to decide a proper burial."

She slowly rolled out of bed and wiped the latest tears from her face.

"They were your friends, so we thought it best that you chose what you would like done.” He sighed. “Since bringing them back to Earth isn't an option."

The door slid open. She never looked so frail. Eyes red and still showed the existence of tears.

"It never was." She souly joked.

"Are you... going to be ok?" He asked carefully.

"I don't see what that has to do with anything." She wiped her eyes again. "We've discussed it before. In the event of our," she gulped. "Passing... we wanted to be casted into the nearest sun. Better than floating around in space."

"I'll tell Allura..." he started to turn around, but stopped himself. "...anything else?"

"You can join me in their departure, if that's what you're asking."

He smiled weakly. "Only if you want me there."

"Shiro..." she groaned a warning.

He held his hands up in defense. "Alright, I'm sorry. Meet at the dock in an hour?"

"I was actually going to step out there now and collect some things." She stepped past him, closing her door on the way out.

"Aleah," he grabbed her upper arm.

She shrugged it off. "Shiro, I'm fine. Thank you for worrying, but I'm not going to do anything. That's not what he would have wanted."

"Ok, well..." she turned to face him. "Keith, Hunk, and Lance have already placed them in their pods if you want to say your goodbyes in private."

"And what about the-"

"Pidge had an observation drone look over the place." He smiled weakly. "There isn't any source of parasitic life found. Whatever was there, it died with them."

"Good." Was all she managed to say. She then dodged eye contact. ".....thank you" she muttered before turning down the hall and walking out.

\----------------

The boxes were full, clothes, possessions, photos, alcohol. Everything she cherished and needed that she could bring, she had it packed it up.

She was now in the pod bay. Four pods, too dark to see into, but all four had notes that was kindly written by Keith or Hunk displaying who's grave it was.

She carefully caressed her fingers over the glass of the pods. What was once escape pods used to save the crew's lives would be used to ship the dead to their final resting place.

She found humor in this irony.

"Are you ready, Aleah?" Shiro's soft voice spoke out in the silence.

She, without looking to him, nodded. Her steps to the pod eject were slow and quiet.

"Would you like to say anything first?" He asked her.

Her hand glossed over the button.

"I wish I could have said goodbye." She whispered.

"This could be your chance." He suggested, a soft frown on his lips.

She shook her head. "It's not the same..." she looked behind herself to him. "Do you have anything to say?"

He stood quiet, thinking. What could he say at this moment?

"You all looked so happy together, in the garrison. Always joking around, laughing, jumping over things, starting fights with Iverson..." he stepped closer to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You guys were the group. You were like the popular kids." She weakly laughed. "You were a family from the start."

His words weighed heavier on her then he would ever know.

"And unfortunately, that's all I've got." his hand slid off her shoulder and down to his side. “Dwight and I got along pretty well but I didn’t really know him or the others that well.

"That's ok... there will be more to say when we return to earth and have their real service there." She pressed the button and the pods shot off.

She watched out the window as they rocketed into the nearest sun as they got smaller and smaller until they were gone.

She didn't say a word. Craving to just return to her bedroom and be alone, she turned and picked up one of the boxes.

"Thank you for being here Shiro..." she tried placing one of the boxes on the other and picking them up. "you should probably go get your rest." 

"H-here let me help you with that..."

She didn't argue with him as he lifted the box off of the other and helped her carry them back to her room, passing Keith on the way there.

"U-um... Shiro? Could I speak with you?"

"In a minute Keith, just let me finish helping Aleah."

"Of course. I'll be in the command center."

The rest of the trip was quite. He followed her into the room, placed the box down next to hers and stood there, unsure of what to say.

"Aleah, are you going to be alri-"

"I'll be fine, Shiro... I just need some time please." He nodded. Unsure of what else to say he backed to the door. "And thank you... so much."

"Of course. And please remember that we're all here for you... I wasn't kidding when I said you're one of us now."

She didn't respond.

"Goodnight, Aleah." He stepped out into the hall.

"Goodnight, Shiro." She shut the doors behind him.

Her room was dimly lit, only the lamp on the other side of the bed was on. Her old instincts kicked in. She reached into the box and pulled out her full bottle of whiskey. She had at least two weeks worth in those boxes.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

-Command center-

"What?!" Shiro exclaimed.

"We couldn't find her! We looked all through out the ship and nothing! Pidge even reviewed the footage of where her body was and.... it wasn't there!"

Keith and Hunk were waiting for Shiro with news that while placing the bodies into their pods they were unable to find one of them. Trish’s.

".... should we tell her?" Allura asked.

Pidge shook her head. "Would you want to know that one of your closest friends dead corpse may still be under the control of a parasitic form of mad cow disease?"

The room fell silent. 

"If she's anywhere, she's floating around space, dead." Keith pointed out. "Aleah has been threw so much already.... I agree with Pidge, it might be for the best that we keep this information to ourselves."

Everyone silently agreed.

\---------------------

Another week went by. 

Unbeknownst to the team, Aleah was continuously turning her sorrow to the bottle. Taking out all of her sadness and hurt out on her stomach, mind, and liver. She was very good at hiding her hangovers, but when she was back in her room, she would start the cycle over. She had become dependent on her many assortments of whiskey, run, and vodka.

Shiro was walking down the hall after a private training session when he saw Lance and Keith standing in the hallway, staring at the floor with sad looks and not saying a word.

"What are you guys-" he started just to be hushed by the silent motion of Keith putting his finger over his lips and then pointing to Aleah's door.

Shiro took a step closer. That's when his mind started to register the low sounds of singer. Her singing.

"There was a time  
When I was brokenhearted  
Love wasn't much of a friend of mine  
The tables have turned yeah  
'Cause me and them ways have parted  
That kinda love was the killin' kind  
All I want is someone I can't resist  
I know all I need to know  
By the way I got kissed"

She sounded so hurt, so distressed. Shiro could tell she been drinking.

"You guys shouldn't be listening to this." Shiro whispered a warning.

"Just..." Lance muttered out. "A few more minutes?"

Shiro looked unsure, but then she started to sing again.

"I was cryin' when I met you  
Now I'm tryin' to forget you  
Your love is sweet misery  
I was cryin' just to get you  
Now I'm dryin' 'cause I let you  
Do what you do down on me"

"What are you guys doin-" Pidge and Hunk walked down the hall.

We all simultaneously shush them. Lance pointed to her door.

"It's down on me  
Yeah, I got to tell you one thing  
It's been on my mind, boy I gotta say  
We're partners in crime"

We were all listening quietly, trying to even imagine what it would be like to loose everyone, let alone the one you loved.

She never picked the song up. She remained quiet. Not a sound could be heard.

"Alright," I stood up from leaning against the wall. "We've been here a lot longer than we should've been. Go to bed and get some rest. We have early training tomorrow."

Everyone groaned or sighed and went off to bed, including myself.

\---------------------

Three days passed.

"She's been drinking a lot." Pidge spoke out at dinner.

Aleah doesn't join them for meals. She, at least the others all hoped, ate on her own due to her night owl schedule.

"How do you know?" Hunk asked.

"I don't sleep a lot anymore. I'll have some run in with her and she'll be.... I don't know if you'd call it drunk or not, but she certainly not sober."

"Should we... even say anything?" Lance asked.

"Don't know how that'll go. We're not her parents, we have no room to say anything." Keith pointed out.

"Buuuuuut," Hunk sang. "If we just say something like "hey you're drunk and shouldn't be fixing the ship cause you'll get us all killed" then technically we're not over stepping our boundaries."

Pidge stood up and walked over to one of the panels covering the breaker box of the food goop machines.

Shiro raised an eyebrow. "Pidge what are you-"

BLAM

Pidge quickly covered the panel again and ran back to his seat.

"Act natural!" She whispered before returning to eating.

Before we could question her methods, the door slid open, and in came Aleah.

Her red dreads were tied up in a pony tail and her clothes looked dirty, covered in grease.

She made no eye contact with anyone as she sluggish walked past everyone with an annoyed look.

Lance manage to make eye contact with her by accident.

"What are you looking at?" She glared as she kept walking past.

He quickly looked back down to his food and kept eating.

Without another word, she opened up the same panel Pidge opened up previously and took a look inside.

The room was quiet. Everyone was looking eachother as if to say something.

Shiro took a deep breath. "Aleah, would you like to join us for-"

BLAM

She punched the panel and pulled out a small handful of wires. She marched over to Pidge and dropped them in front of her.

"You broke it, you fix it. I'm not your mother!" She growled.

We were all shocked. She knew.

She marched back to the door, leaving a scent of alcohol in her path. She stopped when she opened the door and turned to the others.

"I told you all that I wanted nothing to do with you. It's just that simple. I don't want to make friends, so leave me, the FUCK ALONE!” She screamed. He eyes shift to Pidge. “And if I find out that you've been breaking anything else around this ship, you can be sure that I will personally deal with you."

She walked threw the door and let it slide closed.

"Well that didn't work." Keith pointed out the obvious.

"Shiro, maybe you should talk to her." Hunk suggested.

"What?" My eyes widened. "Why me?"

"She likes you best." Pidge pointed out.

I raised an eyebrow. "How do you figure?"

"You're the only one she has directly yelled at." Hunk answered.

"When has she yelled at you?" Lance asked Hunk.

"A month ago. You don't remember? She got mad cause I asked her about herself.... she also scares me."

"What would I even say to her?" I stood up, picking up my plate.

"Just give her one of your team leader speeches! Works every time!" Lance smiled with a thumbs up.

"Tell her exactly what we've been saying." Pidge added softly. "That we're worried about her and just want to help."

I sighed. "I guess... I could give it a shot." I walked out of the dining hall with a plate of food.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I stood my ground in front of her door, conducting our conversation in my head. A plate of food in one hand and my other hand balled up into a fist preparing to knock. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous.

I took a deep breath before knocking.

"Aleah, it's me, Shiro." Silence. I cleared my throat before continuing. "I-I was wondering if we could talk?" Silence.

‘Maybe she's not in her room.’ I thought to myself.

The door then opened a little. Her tired form peeking out.

"What?" She groggily asked. Her room was dimly lit with a faint smell of alcohol leering out.

"I wanted to apologize for Pidge earlier... can I come in?" I asked hopefully.

"I'm not in the mood for a lecture, Shiro."

I placed my hand on the door.

"That's not what this is about. Just give me two minutes?"

She looked down before backing up from door and letting it open more.

"Ok... but only two minutes."

I stepped into the dimly lit room with caution. It was generally clean save for the trash bin full of big empty bottles and their sickly sweet scent floating around the room.

She sat on the edge of her bed and I sat in the chair in front of her.

I cleared my throat again, getting ready to use the sentences I had prepared earlier. I held the food out for her.

"I brought you dinner."

She carefully took it and to my surprise, actually started to take small bites with the fork.

"We're all worried about you." I started.

She swallowed her food and looked up at me. "I thought this wasn't going to be a lecture."

I shook my head. "It's not. Promise. Just.... hear me out?" When she didn't respond, I continued.

"We've noticed that you've been acting differently, and we're worried about you." I repeated.

"Well don't be, I'm fine." She put the plate down on the bed and stood up. "I'm still doing my job right, aren't I?" She started to walk away.

I stood up and placed my hand around her wrist.

"We don't care about how you're doing your job." I shot at her, immediately regretting my tone. Her face held a surprised look to my outburst.

I cleared my throat as I sat back down. With my hand still around her wrist, I gently motioned for her to sit back down.

"Look, all I'm trying to say is that in your times of weakness, to come to one of us. Any of us. Whoever you feel comfortable with."

I noticed a half empty bottle of liquor on the table next to me. I grabbed it and examined it.

"This isn't going to help you, Aleah. What you're feeling is pain, a lot of it. I get it. But this?" I held it up to her. "This won't do anything but make it worse... trust me, I know."

She cocked an eyebrow up. I sighed and leaned forward towards her.

"I'm going to tell you something I've never told any of the guys before... Allura introduced me to an Altean drink in the ship that is highly alcoholic to us humans... I was in so much pain and traumatic stress after my time on the Galra prison base that I too, took to drinking."

I unknowingly placed both of my hands on her wrists. I looked her right into her eyes.

"And do you know what it did? All it did was make the dreams more vivid. The sugar in it was making my heart race right into a panic attack and the dreams felt more real. You don't want that."

The way her eyes looked quickly to the ground told me she has already faced these problems.

"And forgive me for saying so, but what would Dwight say if he saw you like this? Drinking your problems away? Do you think he wants that for you?"

"Stop." Her hands clenched under my grasp.

"Would you have wanted him to act this way?"

"Stop it!" She tried to pull her hands away.

"Would any of them wanted this for you?!"

She was able to pull herself free from my grasp and she stood up.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" She screamed at me.

I stood up, towering over her by at least a foot. "I know that if it were one of my team mates in your position, I wouldn't want this! This is no way to solve anything!"

\-------------------

Her eyes started to flood. Memories of her friends rushed threw her head. She knew what they would do if they saw her now.

Daniel would cry and desperately try to pry the bottle away from her.

Travis would be so heartbroken he wouldn't be able to speak or look at her.

Trish would be angry to the point of screaming and trying to literally shake sense into her.

Dwight... he would be a mixture of the three. He'd struggle with his emotions and the right way to help her, he'd be heart broken to the point where he'd just hold her in his tight embrace and never let go, whispering "I love you"s and "please stop" into her hair. But he'd also be angry. He'd be so angry at himself, and knowing him, would somehow find a way to blame himself for whatever she was going through.

She fell onto the floor crying.

Shiro carefully kneeled down in front of her.

"Aleah," he whispered to her. "Please just let us help you."

"NO!" She screamed pushing him away. "You'll all just die and leave me like he did! Like they all did!"

Shiro couldn't take it anymore. He pulled her into a tight embrace. She cried in his shoulder while he's robotic hand caressed her back.

He shushed her quietly. "We're not going anywhere. I promise. We're going to make it out of this war together and go home safely." He pulled her away from him and looked into her eyes with a serious look. "I promise you, Aleah."

She pulled herself back into him and cried on his shoulder. All the pain she has been holding onto, the hurt, the nightmares, the darkness. She cried and cried and cried until, 5 minutes later, she couldn't anymore.

"God I feel so terrible..." she leaned back. Her eyes were red and tear stained and she tried to rub away what's left with her sleeve.

"What?" He asked, head tilted to the side.

She breathed a short laugh. "I've been so awful to everyone, they must hate me."

He shook his head slightly with a small smile.

"They don't hate you. They understand. It was actually upon their request that I come talk to you, I wasn't the only one worried."

She laughed. "Why you?"

"Well..." he blushed a little. "They said I'm the only one you haven't directly yelled at yet."

She burst into laughter to which he joined, her laugh being like a rare object he wanted to enjoy while it lasted.

"Oh god now I really do feel bad!" She placed a hand over her eyes.

He chuckled. "It'll be ok, Aleah. I promise." He looked up at the Altean clock on the wall.

"Ah." They both stood up. "I guess it's time I head off to bed."

He looked back down to her. "Are you going to be ok?"

She nodded her head with a tiny smile. "I think so.... thank you, Shiro."

She followed him to the door.

"Hey Shiro...." he hummed a response, not yet opened the door. "Would it be alright if..... earlier you said if I need to talk to someone..." she sighed, annoyed at herself. "Would I be able to talk with you?"

Before I could answer she started again.

"I know. I know! You're the leader of this badass team that fights evil for the sake of the universe, but I just mean when you have time or.... something... nevermind, dumb question, forget I asked."

I chuckled. "Aleah, its fine. I would be honored if you came to talk with me." She smiled in reply.

"Feel better?" I asked her, looking at her with amusement.

She rolled her eyes and opened her door. "Goodnight, Shiro."

I walked out. "Night Aleah."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

We wouldn't see Aleah for a while after that night. The next day our attention was called to a planet in need of our help under Zarkon control. We would spend the next three days fighting, just to come back to the castle, exhausted. It was a harsh battle, but it was another victory.

The next morning I went threw my daily training routine, while on my way to shower, I heard a scream come from the main room.

Adrenaline kicked in as I raced threw the main room's door. Pidge was in their by herself on the ground clutching something to her chest.

"Pidge is everything ok?!" I quickly approached him.

She spun around, "Is everything ok? Everything is better than ok!!! Look!"

She held out her arms and showed me what seems to be an old Nintendo 64. I looked at her confused.

"Where did this come from?" 

"I don't know! I just left my room and it was sitting right there! Look at these games too! Conker's Bad Fur Day, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, these are hard to find on Earth, let alone out here in space! And someone hot wired it so I can just plug it into this Altean computer and...." She plugged it into her laptop. "BAM! Now I can finally kick Lance's ass!"

I chuckled. "Alright, well have fun Pidge, just don't forget to do your training."

As I'm walking back to the doors of the main room, the slid open and Keith walked in.

"Morning Shiro."

"Morning Kei- wow nice jacket."

Keith was carrying a different jacket than normal. This one was a vintage black leather space pilots jacket, a kind of improvement from his regular jacket.

"Yeah, just hanging outside my door. Weird right? Think maybe Allura must have found it?"

"Oh look, Keith has an actual jacket!" Lance strolled in. The scrawny boy rolled his eyes. "You finally found a full jacket! Talk about moving up in life, eh?" He nudged an annoyed Keith.

"My jacket is a full jack- is that a CD player?"

I noticed it too. Lance had a CD player buckled onto his pants with one headphone in his ear.

"Why yes... thank you for noticing. It was sitting outside my door this morning with a bunch of CDs! I'm not even that big of a fan of some of the artist but it's a nice little reminder of home ya know?"

Pidge paused his game and turned around. "What?"

Lance gasped. "Is that a Nintendo 64?! Where did you get that?!"

"Later." Pidge waved him off. She pointed to Keith. "You found a jacket this morning," she points to Lance, "he found a CD player, and I found this set up this morning.... there's no way Coran and Allura could have been able to get any of this..."

A thought came to my head. I smiled. "Or.... maybe it was someone's way of apologizing to everyone for the way they've been acting lately."

Their eyes grew. "Aleah?!" Lance shouted. "She did all of this?"

I shrugged. "It only makes sense."

"Apology accepted!" Lance shouted, jumping the couch and sitting next to Pidge. "I'm playing now!" He grabbed the other controller.

"Great." Keith groaned. "They're going to be playing that all day."

"You guys!" Hunk ran in. "You won't believe it! I went to the kitchen for my first breakfast of the day, and you HAVE to come see this!" He ran out.

We all looked at each other and ran after him.

In the kitchen, there were plates and plates set out of different types of globs of food. We looked at him strangely.

"Just- just taste it." His eyes watered with happy tears.

Lance walked over a carefully took a bite. His face froze, we watched with anticipation. His expression melted into a heavenly look.

He swollowed and then picked up the plate.

"Dibs." He tried to run out only to be stopped by Hunk. They fought for the plate as the rest of us sampled the other stuff ourselves.

"This is incredible..." Pidge muttered, taking another bite.

"I didn't know you could even make different foods with this stuff." Keith continued eating.

"You don't think Aleah did this too, do you?" Pidge asked. We all stoped and looked at eachother.

"Aleah?" Hunk asked.

"Shiro thinks she did this as a sort of apology, a peace offering if you will, for her lashing out at us over the past month or so."

"Well damn, apology accepted!" Hunk laughed, taking the plate from Lance and eating the rest.

"Hey!" Lance punched his arm.

I took another bite of the goop. It was unreal how good it was. I mean, Hunks food was great, but this is another level. If I had to compare the taste, I would say it taste exactly like chicken, but in some form of jello ish form.

"She even left this box of cards that tells me what everything taste like for my own recipes!" Hunk started tearing up. "She's like our own little Santa!"

I chuckled. "I'm going to go take a shower. You guys have fun." I removed myself from them.

"Shiro," Pidge stopped me. "Good job on whatever you said to Aleah. Told you she likes you best." She gave me a cocky smirk.

I cleared my throat. "It was nothing. She just needed a friend is all."

"Well good job, big guy!" Hunk nudged my arm.

With a nervous laugh and a wave, I left for my room.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

It was getting later in the "day" now. Pidge was still neck deep in her games while Keith sat on the couch watching her play the game with curiosity. Pidge was trying to introduce him to video games to.... no avail. Lance meanwhile has been going threw his new CDs listening to them all little by little. He can get incredibly homesick, so it's good for him to have small reminders. Hunk on the other hand has been using the recipe substitutions to make us dinner.

"Dinner in 10 minutes guys." Hunk stepped in to the main room quickly before running back out.

I had an idea.

"I'll be right back." No one paid any mind.

I causally strolled down the hallway towards Aleah's room. I leaned against the door frame and knocked lightly on her door.

There was silence.

"Who is it?"

.... quick.... witty remark! Go!

"Shiro."

....damn it.

Silence again.

"... come in."

I tapped the keypad to her door. The door slid open and I stepped into the dimly lit room. The door shut behind me and I noticed how normal her room smelt. No alcohol sickening smell.

Aleah was lying on her bed against the wall. I could tell she was going over the ship maintenance report from the holographic tablet.

I crossed my arms as I stared down at her from across the room with a smile.

"What?" She blushed.

My smirk grew bigger. I didn't respond.

"What?!" Her face grew redder.

"That was very nice of you." I continued to smirk at her with my arms crossed.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." She looked back down at her work, swiping ferociously threw the holograms on the screen. 

I sighed and walked closer to her. I sat on her bed and pulled the tablet out of her hands.

"Hey!"

I pulled it at arms length away from me, behind my head. She tried to reach for it, putting her about a foot away from my face.

For that one second, as she was trying to reach for it, I caught a glimpse of her eyes. Even in the dimly lit room, they were still this intoxicating colour of green.

From the colour of her hair and the shade of green in her eyes, I came to the realization that she must have been part Irish. An Irish Asian.... Strange.

I started to blush when I realized she made eye contact with me. She quick backed up, and I threw her tablet on the chair behind me before turning my attention back to her.

"The guys really appreciate the gifts."

Her blush returning. "I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Oh come on!" I nudged her shoulder. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about. You did a nice thing! Now why don't you come eat dinner with us?"

She shook her head. "No I'm fine. I ate already."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Oh really? When?"

"...Earlier..."

"Oh really?" I repeated. "Cause Hunk has been in the kitchen for the past 3 hours."

"I'm fine really." She started messing with her sleeve. "I'm still in my night gown. I'm fine. I'll eat later."

I rolled my eyes again. "Well thanks to you, no one else has really had the chance to change from their night clothes either." I chuckled. "They're just sweats and a tank top, you'll be fine. Please?"

She shook her head. "No, thank you."

I grabbed one of her hands with both of mine and held it close to my chest.

"Pleeeeeease?" I made a fake sad look.

She laughed. "Noooo."

"Pleeeeeeeeease!"

"... fine." She sighed. "But only for a few minutes.... and only because I'm hungry." She took her hand back.

I put my hands up in defense. "What other reason is there for dinner?"

She laughed and followed me out her door.

"Everyone will be really happy you came down." She rolled her eyes.

"I'm not use to eating with a lot of people," she warned. "Even on my old ship, we never really ate together. Everyone ate when they felt like it."

"Yeah well, we’re different. It was Hunk's idea really, he said that families should always eat dinner together."

"Is Allura and Coran going to be there?"

I lightly placed my hand on her shoulder. "Hey I said family, didn't I?" She giggled.

We didn't see Lance straight ahead in the hall way, walking into the dining room.

"Hey, guys!" He shouted into the room. "Shiro brought Aleah!"

"Told you." I smirked.

She lightly hit me on my chest. When we looked forward again, we saw Hunk making a run for her. She screamed in surprise as he wrapped her in a hug.

"Oh my gosh, Aleah. Apology accepted! You're my best friend now and forever! Come taste this amazing food I made!"

He grabbed her by the hand and raced her the rest of the way to the dining room. By the time I caught up, she was already seated with a plate of food being put in front of her.

"Hunk, this is amazing!" Allura complemented him from her side of the table.

"Absolutely!" Coran agreed. "I've never tasted a mix of this flavor before. What do you call it?"

"Well, by the substitution list Aleah made me, it should be ravioli and chicken."

"Ravi....oil? Am I saying that right?" Allura pondered. "Is that like an earth animal?"

"Actually it's a form of pasta. Like, to pieces of square noodles with meat on the inside. Normally beef."

Allura smiled nervously, not sure what he was talking about.

Aleah was half way through her food at this point and actively listening to the conversations. I watched her laugh as Lance, Pidge, and Hunk struggled to explain what ravioli was to Allura threw a string of foods she never heard of.

I didn't notice how long I've been staring at her until Lance nudge me under the table. I blushed to myself and tried to hide it by looking down at my food.

"Thank you so much, Aleah!" Pidge suddenly chipped, growing exhausted of the explanation to Allura. "I've been playing it all day! Where did you get it?!"

She blushed as all the attention was turn to her. "Oh um... it was Daniel's... it was one of his most prized possessions, I thought you might like it."

The table was silently. "It was one of your team mates?" Pidge asked. "I... I don't know if I could accept something so valuable..."

"No, no! It's fine! I want you to keep it. He would be glad to know someone is making use out of it." She smiled sincerely. "I was never any good at holding the blasted controller."

"Then... thank you, Aleah. It means a lot that you would give something so dear to me."

"I was happy to." She cleared her throat. "Actually... I hope it's not too weird, but I gave you all something from my team mates. Lance, that CD player belonged to Trish. The CDs were a little of everyone's. I didn't know what you were into." She giggled to herself.

"So what about this jacket?" Keith asked impatiently.

"Ah. That right there, my friend, is co-piolet Travis' lucky leather jacket. That piece of leather has been worn by one of the best pilots this galaxy has seen during some our most trickiest escapes from crumbling planets, giant beasts and some crazy shoot outs. To be honest, had I thought of it I would have sent it off with him. At least I'll know that someone is taking comfort with it."

"Yeah, sweet jacket." Hunk cut in. "And these recipes?!"

"Those are based off Daniel's cookbooks! While you guys were off kicking Galra ass, I took the liberty to taste a bit of everything and use taste comparison."

Hunk pulls her into another hug, earning another laugh from her. "You're a genius and a friend to taste buds."

"That was very sweet of you, Aleah." Allura cut into the sweet moment. "As a form of apology, you gave to the paladins that which made you turn spiteful to them in the first place. Your memories of your friends."

She blushed, removing her eye contact from Allura.

"Very poetic." Coran applauded her.

"Yes well.... I just wanted everyone to know that I am very sorry.... and that's not who I am."

The table remains quiet for her.

"Im not one to just turn cold on someone for no reason. I'm not a spiteful person... it's just that, so much has happened in the past 3 months, and I completely shattered. But none the less, I shouldn't have treated you guys like that and I'm glad you guys found me."

I smiled proudly at her. She was able to come to terms with her behavior and took the initiative in fixing things. Pidge, Hunk, Lance, and Coran were all making dumb crying faces. Lance rushed around the table to give her a hug.

"WE FORGIIIIIIVE YOOOOU!" He cried. "YOU POOR LITTLE CHILD ILL PROTECT YOU FOR NOW ON!"

She started to look uncomfortable.

"Uh, Lance. I think she gets its." I laughed nervously.

He shushed me. "No time for jealousy! I need a hug, I mean she needs a hug!"

I was confused. "Wha-.... jealousy?"

No one heard me as Aleah tried to push Lance off.

"Lance!" She struggled. "I appreciate the forgiveness, but this isn't- necessary!"

She successfully pushed him off, using her hand to prop his head at an arms length distance, while he continued to cry.

The rest of dinner was spent laughing and joking, sharing stories from our past battles and triumphs. She laughed the hardest after hearing the story about how Keith left Lance tied to a tree.

It was after dinner, that everyone broke off their different ways to bed, I just said goodnight to her when she instead asked me to follow her back to her room.

"I... didn't want you to think I forgot about you." She muttered out as she opened her door.

"I'm sorry...?" I didn't understand.

"I probably put you through the most headache, and I didn't want you to think that I forgot about you."

I finally caught on to what she was saying.

"It was nothing. I honestly don't need any sort of apology, I'm a leader now, i can handle a bit of conflict." I laughed, attempting to clear this cloud.

She smiled sweetly, pulling something from a box under her bed. "None the less, I didn't know what to get you at first.... but I hope this will mean something to you."

She handed me a picture frame. I gasped as I saw the photo. It was the graduation photo from our year at the garrison. Everyone from our graduating class was there. Me, Matt, Aleah, Dwight, Travis, Daniel, and Trish.

"It was Dwight's. It was his way of grounding himself, ya know?" She shrugged. "Whenever he felt like he was forgetting who he was, what he was working for, he looked at this and remembered home. I.... just hope it could help you should you ever need it."

My mouth opened and closed, trying to find the right words.

"Aleah... I-I don't know what to say... should I really take this? It was his after all, it should really stay with-"

I was cut off by her hand placed over mine.

"He would want you to have it. I'm not sure if he ever told you this, but he always thought you were cool. Passing your tests and exams with amazing grades, being Iverson's favourite, getting the Kerberos mission... he really wanted it, but he was glad when he knew you earned it."

I looked down at my robotic arm, clenching it as I remembered what happened during that mission.

"He should be glad, he avoided a terrible fate." 

She didn't say anything right away, knowing she had touched a nerve.

"Can I," she asked carefully. "Ask what happened? Our mission started a little after yours did. What happened on the Kerberos mission and how did," she lightly tapped my arm. "... actually how did any of this happen?"

I laughed to myself. "We never did tell you, did we?"

She shook her head. "I was too busy being a bitch remember?"

I nudged her shoulder. "Stop."

She giggled and I sighed. "How much time do you have."

Instead of a response, she turned around and sat on the edge of her bed, patting the space next to her.

"I've got all night."

And so I sit down and explained to her what happened. From the Kerberos mission to before we found her. She listened intensely, never interrupting. She just... listened... it was a strange feeling I was having, explaining all of this. It was the first time I've actually talked about it. It felt like I was taking a weight of my chest. 

When have I ever just sat down and talked about something? The guys, they all knew what was going on, so what was the point or repeating it? I was explaining things because she asked, but I don't think she'll ever know how much she might have helped me that night.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

During that night, she waited until I was done to ask any questions. She was extremely interested in how a group of humans were given the ability to control a being such as Voltron. I happily answered any of her questions to my best ability. Until,

"When are we going home?"

That question. The question my fellow paladins and I have been pondering for a while. There was no use in sugar coating it.

"When Zarkon is destroyed and the threat to the universe is gone." I answered her honestly.

Her expression didn't look satisfied at my answer, but she nodded none the less. Just like all of us, she must of had family to go back to, right?

As we said our good nights to each other, I looked down at the framed photo again.

"Are you sure this is ok?" I asked her carefully. 

She nodded. "Yes Shiro, for the hundredth time, yes.” She rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Besides, you don't think that's the only photo I have of him, do you?" She motioned to the framed picture by her bed. His military photo.

I chuckled. "No, of course not." I rubbed the back of my neck. "You have no idea how great this is actually... it's nice to have a small reminder of simpler times, before-" I motioned up to my white tuft of hair as a joke.

"It doesn't look bad." She chuckled. "Very... mature."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, like 60 years old mature, right?"

We both shared a short laugh before basking into an awkward silence.

"Hey," I brought her attention back. "Would it be weird if I..." I motioned my arms up a little.

"Huh?" She looked at me confused before knowing sparked onto her expression. "Oh! No, of course not!"

She met me half way in an embrace. Her arms around my neck and mine around her waist. That's when I felt it. A strange spark of energy that jolted through my heart for a split second.

I slowly pulled away, "I really should be getting to bed now. Goodnight, Aleah."

She nodded. "And I need to get to work. Good night, man." She opened her door for me.

I waved to her before she shut the door. Once I was alone in the hall way, my hand went straight over my heart.

I couldn't be...

\---------------------------------------

-Aleah-

A few days later I was making my rounds on the ship. The paladins were called onto another mission, so it was just Allura, Coran, and me on the ship.

I've been getting along great with the other paladins, and I don't think there's a person I trust more right now than Shiro. So far, we've been able to talk about nearly anything should we needed too, and I think it's helping us a lot. Friends are so hard to find in a place and time like this.

I was doing a maintenance check on the control room when Allura was alerted of a distress signal on a neighboring planet not to far from us.

"The paladins won't be back for a while." Coran pointed out.

"Well, we can't just leave a distress signal unanswered." Allura argued.

"I could go check it out." I volunteered.

"That's a little dangerous don't you think?" She pointed out. "It could be an ambush."

I waved my hand around. "It'll be fine. I'll go down, do a quick stealth recon mission, report back to you, and wait for Voltron."

They looked at each other nervously. 

"Do you really think you can handle it?" She asked me, unsure.

I nodded. "Believe me, I've done this stuff before."

"Ok then! Prepare a suit and get take one of the pods." Coran ordered.

I nodded enthusiastically. Finally! A chance to leave the ship for a while!

\-------------------------

The flight down to the planet was going to be about 10 minutes. I was about 1/4 of the way down when I received a transmission from Allura.

"The planet seems to have a breathable layer of human safe air created by its vegetation. You should be fine to remove your helmet once you're down their, but be careful."

"No problem."

A few minutes after that transmission, I received another. This time from Shiro.

"Going on your own mission I heard?"

"Yeah, A quick recon of a neighboring planet for a distress signal. Nothing major."

"Still..." he sounded unconvinced. "Be careful down there. We're on our way back, so once we receive your report, we'll be down before you know it."

I laughed. "Don't tell me you're worried!" I mocked him. "In our line of work?"

"I've told you before, you're one of us now. Sue me if I'm worried about my team." He joked.

"Alright Shiro. I'll be careful. But JUST because you asked."

He laughed in the other line. "Alright. We look forward to hearing back from you."

"Roger dodger."

\--------------------------------

-Shiro-

"Yer wern erv urs ner!" Lance's mocking tone came through the intercom.

"We'll be down there before you know it!" Pidge joined.

"Mm, I'm Shiro. Aleah's best friend~! I love you Aleaaaah!" Hunk mimicked.

I felt my temple pulsing. "Very mature guys. Cut it out."

"Oh come on! It was too easy!" Lance laughed. "Anyone with eyes and ears can tell you and Aleah clearly have a thing working up."

"It's incredibly obvious." Keith added.

"Seriously cut it out." I warned them. "It's not like that at all." I felt myself getting more annoyed.

"See, you say that..." Lance poked again.

"Do I really need to remind everyone that her husband just died?! Someone who she's been with longer than I've known her? Who, by the way, was a friend of mine?!"

The line went quiet. I sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry for raising my voice, but you all need to understand that she is recovering from a loss, and is just starting to come around to us. Tease me if you want, but don't be doing this around her." I warned them.

They all mumbled an understanding and we continued our flight home.

-Lance-

I cut Shiro out of the intercom and addressed the other paladins.

"Anyone else notice how he didn't deny it?"

"Oh yeah." Keith agreed.

"Big time." Hunk added.

"He's got it bad." Pidge joked.

\--------------------------------------

-Aleah-

Reaching the area, I quietly tiptoed around. Deciding that the local area was safe, I decided to test the air. With a hiss, I remove the helmet over my head and took my first deep breath of fresh air that I've had and what could've been a year.

This planet reminded me so much of earth… Just without all the civilization and pollution. Like a perfect earth. My thoughts were cut short when I heard a rustling in the bushes behind me. I turned around, alert. I removed the baton from the back of my suit and stood at the ready.

When nothing attacked right away, I rolled into another set of bushes and hid. I could hear mumbling coming from the other set of bushes. What sounded like a string of curses and aggravation got closer and closer… words in- was that Korean?

That's when she emerged from the bushes, my jaw dropped. Stepping out of the bushes, speaking a string of Korean curses, was who seem to be Trisha.

My body couldn't move. I didn't know how to react. Is this some sort of trick? How could this be?!

That's when I noticed she had a scar on the skin under her eyebrows. The place where the parasite must've borrowed into her skull. Very unique feature for a copy to have. My baton slipped from my grasp and hit the ground. The sound alerted her. She spun around and stood in the fighting position only she would have.

"Who is it?! I swear to god if it's that goddamn alien baboon again!" She warned, stepping closer.

I slowly stood up. From the second we made eye contact, her arms dropped her side and her jaw fell open.

"Aleah...." her voice came out very raspy.

"Trish..." I responded.

"Oh my god... Oh my fucking god!" She ran to me with her arms wide open.

I met her half way and pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

We cried into each other, speaking between one another Korean phrases of "You're alive!" And "I missed you so much!"

We stayed like this for a few minutes before I pulled away. We spoke only Korean to each other.

"But how? I thought I killed you?"

She laughed. "Shit shot! You got me, but nothing fatal." I laughed with her. "After you left in the escape pod, I woke up! With what little control I had over myself, i used some of our surgeon tools to provoke the parasite to come near the first layer of skin and ripped it out!" She pointed to her scar on her eye. "not attractive I know, but I'm alive. After that I was too scared to get into a pod where another little bitch could be waiting so I took your star glider..." she motioned to the destroyed glider I made.

I shook off my small heartbrake for my glider and looked back at her. "Have you been here the whole time?" I asked her, my tears still falling.

"Yeah, believe me it wasn’t easy." She looked at the ground sadly. "My time on this planet has been spent with me thinking of how that parasite made me almost kill you… I'm so sorry."

"No no no, I'm sorry I couldn't save you sooner… Killing my friends was the hardest thing I've ever had to do… I couldn't live with myself for quite a while."

That's when I had a thought.

"Wait… You said you left after me?" She nodded her head, unsure of where this was going. "But… I casted your grave into space.... I sent your casket into the nearest sun… How is this possible?"

She shook her head and confusion. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Like I said, I left after you. I had no idea where you were, the ship was already on a speeding course when everything happened, there was no way I could've found you."

I look down at the ground… And then that means there was never anyone in that fourth casket.… They lied to me.

I clenched my hands and balled them into fists.

"I... I can't believe this."

"What?"

Anger boiled through my blood. "They lied to me! Those bastards lied to me!" Tears of betrayal welled up in my eyes. "I trusted them… I poured my heart out to them… And they lied to me! He lied to me!"

"Aleah, what are you talking about? Are you alright?"

I shook my head. "Some people who I thought were my friends… They-"

I groaned in frustration. That's when I heard Shiro's voice come through the pod intercom.

"Aleah, are you there? We haven't heard back from you yet… You didn't get lost did you?" He joked. 

I wasn't in view of the pod screen. He couldn't see me yet. 

"We just returned from our mission, what's your status?"

"Is that Takashi Shirogane?" She asked me.

I stood up, not answering her question. I walked into the sight of the screen, not looking at Shiro. Behind him was the rest of the paladins including Allura and Coran.

"Ah, there you are. We were getting worried there for second… What's your status?" He asked again.

"Shiro... please be honest with me." I asked in a darker toned voice.

"Is... everything ok?"

"Was Trisha in the pod?"

They all looked taken aback. Shiro cleared his throat and laughed nervously.

"I'm sorry, Aleah, I couldn't catch that, could you-?"

I clenched my jaw. "Was Trish…" I growled making direct eye contact through the screen. "In. The. Pod?"

I could tell from their silence that they knew that I knew.

Shiro had a very sad, guilty, and regretful look on his face.

"I'm sorry, Aleah... we couldn't find her. We wanted to tell you..."

I nodded. "Ok... ok..."

"Aleah are you OK?" Trish walked into the pod next to me. The paladins gasped. 

"Trish?" Shiro muttered.

I bit my lip, feeling my anger boil up more and more. Reaching into my helmet, I removed the microphone and snapped it in half.

"Aleah, what are you doing!" Allura moved to the front of the group. 

I couldn't hold my anger any more. I pulled my fist back and landed a very dangerous punch through the control panel, shutting off the screen.

-Shiro-

The screen went fuzzy. Static was all that could be seen as her loud scream was cutting in and out as she mercilessly destroyed what sounded like the entire pod.

We couldn't see anything, only heard Trish screaming for her to calm down.

"What is she doing?!" Coran yelled. We then completely lost connection. "They can't return with the pod like that!"

I put my helmet on and ran towards my lion.

"I'll go get them."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

I destroyed the entire thing. The inside was in shambles. Trish was able to pull me out and sat me down on the ground.

"Aleah, just breathe please." Her hands were firmly on my shoulders. "Talk to me."

"They told me you were dead." I spoke through a tight jaw. "They didn't tell me that you weren't there! They let me think everyone I cared about was gone. Those fucking bastards lied to me, SHIRO lied to me! I trusted him, I told him everything, I poured my heart out to him and he..... GAAH!"

I needed something to punch. Ok, so maybe I don't have a healthy way of expressing my emotions, maybe I never did. Up until these times, I never really felt anything other than happiness and snarkiness.

"We should just stay here. Just you and me." I placed my hand over hers on my shoulder, keeping my eyes trained on the odd coloured grass below me. "You would never do anything like that to me. You're the only person I trust."

She giggled. "That is true, I am. But we can't stay here. We still need to find a way... home." Her voice trailed off. "I'm... going to go grab a few things."

"What?" I watched her get up. I'm sitting here having a meltdown and she just gets up and walks awa- oh. 

My eyes landed on a nervous looking Shiro as she walked past him deeper into the woods, passing Shiro with a knowing nod, leaving us alone.

I looked at him for maybe half a second before I huffed and looked the other way.

"You really did a number on the pod." He attempted to lighten the mood.

I didn't answer him.

He started to walk closer to me. "Aleah, look we're sorry we weren't honest with you."

"Just get away from me." I snapped at him, standing up to get further away from him. "We're staying here so just... leave. All of you."

"Aleah you're not staying here." His serious voice spoke.

"Says you!" I rolled my eyes, still walking away from him with him hot on my tail.

"Yes, says me! We're not leaving two humans on some random planet! Who knows where Zarkon will attack next?! Not to mention what's on this planet alone!"

I spun around and faced him, the sudden action startling him. "I'd rather die on this planet with her, starving, ripped to shreds, or even blown up, than be on a ship with people who let me think the most dearest person in the world to me was dead!"

"That's not what happened at all, Aleah." I turned back around and tried to keep moving. "Would you stop trying to run away from me for five seconds?!" He grabbed my wrist.

I snapped. I spun back around and tried to land a punch on his jaw. His hand easily caught the punch, giving me the chance to free my other hand and attempt a round house kick to his head with my left leg, to which he caught as well and knocked my leg back down. He took the opportunity to twist my wrist behind my back and pressed my front against a tree with him against my back.

"Would you calm down for just a second and let me at least explain?!" He snapped. "Yes, we lied to you. But we did it because we care about you! We thought that if she was out there, she would be under the control of whatever killed your team! She would have been floating around space! It wouldn't have been her! Why would we want to break that kind of news to you?! I'm sorry that we didn't tell you, but your friend is alive! Why are you so angry at us?!"

I struggled against his weight until he let off. I spun around, anger boiling in my blood and tears welling up again.

"Because I trusted you!" I screamed at him. He took a step back with the look of shock. "I poured my heart out to you,” i continued. “to them as well, but mostly to YOU!" My tears poured over as he started to feel guilty. "I finally thought that things would become normal again for me, that I could trust someone! I let you take me out of my comfort zone to try and be with people again, and then you, OF ALL PEOPLE, YOU lied to me!"

He tried to approach me again. "Aleah, I'm sorry, I didn't think of it like that." I stepped away from him.

"I TRUSTED YOU! I WAS VULNERABLE AROUND YOU, I LET YOU, LET ME LOOK VULNERABLE TO EVERYONE FOR THE SAKE OF “GIVING LIFE ANOTHER SHOT”, AND THIS IS WHAT I GET!" I screamed at him.

He tried to pull me into him but I aggressively pushed him back. "Just leave, Shiro! I want nothing to do with any of you!"

He took a tighter grip on my wrist and tried to pull me in again. I screamed for him to let me go and went to punch him with my other fist again. I didn't learn from my past mistakes because he grabbed it again, holding my wrists above my head.

I continued to scream for him to let me go and squirm under his grasp.

"Aleah, stop!" He demanded.

"Let go of me!" I screamed.

\--------------------

He had no choice but to hold her against the same tree as before, pressing his weight against her front. She couldn't struggle as much now.

"Aleah just listen to me!" His demanding voice tried to reason with her. "Just let me speak... for... two-minutes!" He struggled with keeping her still.

He didn't give it a second thought when something in his mind thought pressing his lips against hers would stop her. She stopped for a few seconds, trying to process what was happening.

She made one attempt to get out of his grasp, he reacted by pressing against her lips harder.

They stood like that for a few seconds. She didn't return the kiss, just let her tears falls. When he thought she had calmed down a little, he backed off of her.

"Now, are you ready to hear what I have to say?" He asked her, catching his breath from their quarrel. She dropped her head down, the tears still flowing but not as rapid.

He gently let her arms down, helping them fall down to her side lightly. Her arms weren't at rest for a full second when they launched around his waist. She didn't want any more of her tears displayed for him or anyone else to see. He wasn't expecting her to pull him into an embrace so quickly, but he was more than compliant to let her cry into his shoulder. She was out of breath and tired. He must have been able to tell, because he let them both drop to their knees.

He consoled her by lightly stroking her back. He spoke softer this time.

"I'm sorry I lied to you, you have every right to be angry at me, but please believe me when I say that we wanted to tell you. By that point you went through so much pain in such a short period of time... We didn't want to drop that on you so suddenly." He sighed, lightly resting his chin on the top of your head. "None the less, I violated your trust, and I promise that it will never happen again. I'm sorry, Aleah. Honestly."

He didn't know it, but the way his strong arms were holding her was the same way Dwight use to. She couldn't help but indulge in it for another minute, just until her tears dried up a little.

She eventually let her grasp slip from around his waist. She wiped the remaining tears from under her eyes.

"We should head back," she suggested. "The others are probably worried about you."

"So you are coming back?" She nodded and he chuckled. "That's good. Besides, I don't think it's me they're worried about right now."

She smiled sadly at him in a form of response.

He helped her up and they walked back to a worried Trish at the pod’s landing site. She jumped up at the sight of the two of them.

"Oh thank god! I thought you might have killed him!" 

She giggled. "No, not this time."

"Yeah, I won't be so lucky next time." He added, breathing a laugh.

"So... is the giant black robot cat yours?" Trish asked.

"I have sooooo much to tell you." Aleah giggled, linking her arm with Trish’s and skipping ahead.

I set a line back to the castle. "I've got Aleah and Trisha. We're heading back up now with what's left of the pod."

"Is she angry?" Pidge asked.

"No, not anymore. She took out all her frustration on kicking my ass." He laughed.

"That's good to hear," Allura cut into the line. "Just make sure you have her friend sent straight to the healing chamber. We have to make sure that nothing is left of that parasite."

"Will do."

"ALEAH AND SHIRO SITTING IN A TREE!" Lance began singing in the background. "K I S S I-"

Shiro cut out the transmission.

On the flight back to the castle, Aleah filled Trish in on everything, while meanwhile Shiro was mentally kicking his own ass from his method of calming her down.

‘God I'm such a fucking idiot.’


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Aleah ran off with Trish to the healing pods as quickly as she could. She wanted to get her friends health cleared so they can spend more time catching up. She promised Allura and Coran that she'd start repairs on the escape pod first thing in the morning.

Shiro took the time and effort to explain to everyone that everything was better now. Although they wouldn't be able to jump back into her trust right away, she did forgive them and they were also told that they should leave her alone for now. He told them that after she took out her frustrations with some much needed ass kicking, they talked it out like adults and came to an understanding. 

Out of good faith to her, he left out, well, almost everything about their real encounter. Unfortunately for him, the team had their short rounds of jokes about a getting his ass handed to him and more jokes about him and Aleah, but he was able to let it go for her sake.

Later that night, after everyone settled in, Shiro was about to go to sleep when there was a light tapping on his door. He groaned in annoyance and threw the covers off of him.

"Lance, for the last time," he opened the door. "NO! -oh, sorry Aleah."

Aleah stood there, her hand still up from knocking and her eyebrows in a surprised arch.

"I thought you were someone else."

Her face reddend and she looked towards the ground.

"No it's, fine. But could you put some clothes on please?"

He looked down and noticed he was just in his underwear. His blush blew out on his face.

"Oh god, sorry! Give me a minute!"

He shut the door behind him, muffling her awkward laugh. He emerged again a minute later in his normal clothes.

"So... what did you need?" He asked, still adjusting his collar.

"Right, I actually wanted to apologize. I over reacted and I shouldn't have treated you like that. I'm really sorry." She spoke softly, still a little flustered.

He stared down at the poor flustered thing for a few seconds, registering everything in his brain.

"Why are you apologizing?" He smirked down at her in amusement, leaning against the door post. "Out of the two of us, I think I should be doing the apologizing."

"Well, it's just- look I'm going to be honest. As you most likely noticed, I don't exactly have a... healthy way of expressing my negative emotions. I can't handle any sort of anger or sadness and I just... get angry. It's something I'm working on, I swear, I'm just sorry if I might have hurt you at all during our little... quarrel.”

"Hurt me? Not sure what you remember, but you couldn't land one hit on me..." He playfully pushed her shoulder, making her step back to regain balance.

She smirked, putting her weight on her right leg with her arms crossed.

"Really? Because that's not what Lance told me you said." She smirked at him, causing his to retreat. A blush grew across his face.

"I just said that- I was just trying to-"

"I know." She cut him off. "And that was very sweet of you to do so." She smiled softly.

Another embarrassing memory came to mind for Shiro. "Well, while we're apologizing to each other, I was actually hoping to talk to you about... earlier."

She cocked an eyebrow, not sure what he was talking about.

He cleared his throat and reluctantly continued. "You see, you were under a lot of stress and I couldn't get you to calm down for even a second to talk you through it and I just thought the best course of action would be to throw you off and do something unexpected and that was to... kiss... you." He basically whispered the last two words. Her eyes widened as if she only just now remembered.

"Oh god, that did happen didn't it.." She kept her eyes trained on the ground.

"Yeah." He coughed follwed by a short awkward silence.

She shook her head. "Whatever, you know what, its fine! Honestly, it's fine, you were just trying to help and you did."

He ran his hand threw his hair, and chuckled. "Yeah, didn't really think on that one. I just, don't want you to think I was taking advantage of you."

"It's fine Shiro." She laughed and playfully hit his chest. "Just don't do it again, alright?" She laughed. "Next time, just tase me."

He laughed again. "Will do."

"Sooooooo?" She rocked from the the balls of her feet to her soles. "Are we, all good?"

He shook his head. "Yeah, we'll call it even, and if it helps, we'll just pretend certain events didn't happen, alright?"

She nodded. "Alright."

"Oh, so how did things go with Trish?" He asked as he suddenly remembered.

"Great! She spent an hour and a half in the healing pod and came out clear! She really did remove that nasty thing on her own!"

"That's great! What did she do on your ship again?"

"She was our medic."

"I thought Daniel was the medic?"

She shook her head. "No he was our mechanic."

"... but I thought you were the mechanic?" He was lost.

"I was studying to be one, yes. But in the end I became a gun technition."

His eyes widened. "Holy shit!" He whispered while darting his eyes around, checking for listeners. "I didn't know they even used gun technition! What do they need a gun technition in space for?!" He asked very interested.

She laughed. "Well it's not just like, weapon. But I made specialized guns for grab and containing space planetarium life... but I did make the occasional weapon or two."

He was very impressed and a little shocked that he didn't already know all of this.

"Looks like you have more uses than just a mechanic for us." He joked.

"I don't think you guys need me for weapons." She chuckled. "With your fancy bayards and all."

"Yeah well, only some of us have them. I," he held up his arm. "Have this."

She felt guilt pool in her stomach.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring anything up."

He rolled his eyes. "Eh, don't worry about it. No big deal." He chuckled. "But I should be heading off to bed."

She looked down at her Altean clock device, pretending she could read it. "Geez! Is that how long I've been out here?" He burst out into laughter. "I didn't know if was so late!" She pretended to be surprised as she tried not to laugh.

"HEY! LOVEBIRDS!" Lance emerged from his room down the hall in his robe with his facial stuff. "SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO SLEEP."

Shiro froze up at Lance's teasing. Worried about how it may have effected her.

She just rolled her eyes. "Go to hell Lance, we’re talking!"

"YOU GO TO HELL!" He screamed back and went back into his room.

They looked to each other and laughed again. They said their good nights and went back to their rooms.

That night, Shiro stared at the ceiling for a time, contemplating how stupid he was to pull such a move on her. A widow in mourning.

He felt like a scumbag. Although he told her it meant nothing and it was for her benefit, he felt like a creep because he actually did get something out of the distraction method. He liked her and he felt like garbage for it.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

In the course of the next week, me and Trish were inseparable. Anyone of the paladins would always find us together, laughing and making snarky comments in another language. But I was more than happy to translate for those who asked.

Sometimes.

"Why, good morning, ladies." Lance greeted us in the kitchen.

"Morning, Lance." We greeted him back.

Lance held a mischievous look. "Wow, you guys talk in harmony like twins. I've always loved twins." He winked at us.

"Lance." Shiro warned him, stepping into the kitchen.

Trish turned to me and spoke in Korean. 

"I thought he had a boyfriend? Doesn't he have a thing for that Keith kid?" I burst into laughter.

Lance's ears perked at His rival's name.

"WHAT ABOUT KEITH?!" He acted defensively.

I spoke in English.

"Nothing Lance. Don't worry about it." I turned back to her, Korean. "Oh he totally has a low key hard on for him." She laughed. Lance squinted his eyes at us and walked out of the kitchen with a plate full of food.

"You guys love to torture them don't you?" Shiro smirked, heading out himself.

"Just Lance, mainly." I shrugged.

"But no, seriously." Trish cut in. "Him and mullet boy have a thing don't they?" She asked seriously.

"Um..." He didn't know how to answer.

"One day." I playfully winked at him.

He chuckled nervously and excused himself from the room, heading to the training room.

She turned back to me, changing back to Korean. She held a look of concern.

"So... speaking of having a thing..." she asked carefully. "What's going on with you and Shiro?"

I chocked on my water. "What?! Trish, we’re just friends." I assured her.

She looked unsure. "Are you sure, because, you and Shiro act.... differently."

"Shiro has been my anchor ever since the accident. Before you came back, I felt like I could go to him for anything. He was what I needed when I was at my worse."

"I just, I don't think you're being honest with yourself sweetie." She placed her hand on mine.

I shook my head. "I just lost Dwight. I may never heal from loosing him. Which is why I can't ever have feelings for someone again. He was my one and only."

Her expression shattered into concern. "So wait, you're just, never going to move on?"

"Why would I?"

"Aleah, I know you're still in mourning, but you can't say you won't move on."

"I couldn't do that to him. I loved Dwight with every fiber of my being. I won't betray him like that, even in death."

"You and I both know he wouldn't want that." She clutched my arm. "He loved you so much that he would want you to be happy. You would have wanted the same for him!"

I stood up. "Yeah, I would've wanted him to find someone else and be happy and have a family, but I know that he still wouldn't do it. So I won't either."

She sighed and stood up with me. "Alright," she linked her arms with mine. "But I'm just saying, that if you were to move on, I'm sure Dwight would be glad that it was with Shiro."

I nudged her. "Don't say that. We're just friends."

She shrugged and led me out to the hallway. "Whatever, but one day another shot at happiness will be there, and you need to take it."

I rolled my eyes. "Thank you teacher."

"I'm only saying this because I love you." She smiled sweetly.

"I love you too." I pulled her into a hug. "It's just us now."

She pulled away. "No, it's not." She giggled. She linked her arm with mine again and continued walking down to the training room. "Now, explain Pidge to me? He kind of looks like Matt, doesn't he?!"

"I didn't tell you yet?!" I gasped.

\-------------------------

-A few hours later-

-Shiro-

I was drenched in sweat. I just finished another workout in the weight room on the ship and was heading back to my room.

I walked through the viewing deck that had windows looking down into the different training rooms when one got my eye.

Aleah and Trish were sparing together. Both using staffs, they were quick and agile. Dodging and swinging for each other.

I placed my hands on the railing under the viewing window, leaning my weight onto my arms as I watched.

I was generally impressed and surprised. I had no idea she could fight this well. In our little quarrel, I had an unfair advantage. I was in the right mind and she was not.

They laughed and joked in Korean, throwing swings and blocking.

I was spectating for a few minutes wheb they stopped for a breather. I was going to use this opportunity to walk away until I caught Aleah's eye. She did a double take and then greeted me with a smile and a wave. I returned it with a 90 degree wave, my human arm naturally flexing.

Trisha's face dropped into an open mouth, wide eyed fake shocked look. She looked at Aleah, with a look of approval and flexed her bicep, complimenting mine. Aleah and Trisha giggled.

I nervously laughed and rubbed the back of my neck, unintentionally flexing my arm again.

Trisha faked gasped and nudged Aleah who was still laughing.

"Stop showing off!" Aleah yelled up to the window.

I pressed down on the intercom. "I can't help it, these bad boys have a mind of their own!" I joked.

They broke into another giggle fit. "Mind turning the training system on to level 8?" Aleah yelled up.

"That's a little high for you, isn't it?"

She flipped me off with a dorky grin.

"Here." I replied, turning the system on. "It's voice activated, so just tell it when you want the simulation to stop."

They yelled a reply of thanks before turning their attention to the robots.

I waved goodbye and turned, only to come face to face with Lance and Keith.

"So your muscles have a mind of their own?" Lance mocked me.

I tried to hold my blush back. "Leave it, Lance."

"It's like you become a teenager around her." Keith added.

I rolled my eyes and walked around them. Half way down the hall I started to wonder why Lance and Keith were walking around alone.

\----------------------

"Oh god, did you see those muscles?" Trisha moaned in Korean as she whacked one of the robots head off. "Mm, I wouldn't mind having those muscles ropes around me!"

"Trisha!" I laughed, dodging the robot attacking me.

"What?! All I'm saying is that those muscles must be perfect for holding another person against the wall," She pull vaulted over the droid with her staff, landed, and spun a round house kick to the back of his head. "if you get my drift."

"Oh my god STOP!" I groaned with a big smile in my face, nearly dodging the melee attack of another robot. "You have to be the horniest bitch I know!"

"Pause simulation!" Trisha yelled in English. The droids stopped in place. I looked to her for why she stopped it.

"I mean, could you imagine?" She started rolling her hips forward. She faked a moan and threw her head back. "Oh my god!"

I burst into laughter. "Oh god, Trisha STOP! Could you please focus?!"

She groaned. "Fine... I got myself all sexually frustrated anyway.... Continue simulation!" She directed, the robots whirring back to life.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

That night, as I laid in my bed, exhausted from our training session, a thought crept in my head thanks to my previous conversation with Trish.

I wonder if his robot arm is stronger than his real arm. And if it is, how much weight could it hold? Could he lift Hunk?.... maybe not, Hunk would squirm around and fall. Lance, Pidge and Keith are all pretty skinny, could he lift me? I mean, I'm about 130-135 last time I checked... he could probably-

"those muscles must be perfect for holding another person against the wall" Trish's voice cut into my head. 

An imaged flashed in my mind of Shiro holding me up, pressed against the wall.

I blushed at myself. No no no, do not think of him like that! Do not think of how he is lightly covered in sweat like he was earlier today, don't think of him without his shirt on, struggling to catch his breath as he keeps his face in the crook of my neck!

I flipped around on my bed, bringing my pillow over my head as I screamed into it.

No, no no! Stop! Oh god what if he was rolling his hips into me, making me gasp for breath as I moan his name.... Shiro.... Shiro... Shi-

"NOPE!" I screamed to no one in particular, throwing the blankets off of me and taking a cold shower.

I stood underneath the cold sprinkle of water, careful not to get my dreads wet as I tried to calm down.

He could take you in the shower. The voice returned. He would start from behind, and then once he got tired of that, he would flip you over and just lay you on the bathroom floor, claiming you over and over again.

A spark traveled up my body at the idea. No! No! Think of Dwight.... Dwight he would.... he would.... he liked being pushy.... yes... that's what he always did.... sex would always be unexpected, one minute we'd be in the control room talking work, and then the next we were fucking in the utility closet.... he would grab my hip, squeeze it, and then snake his robotic arm around my waist...NO! Human arm... human arm and his white hair would stick to my neck while he would thrust- no he had brown hair, dark brown hair... and that scar, oh god how mysterious that scar was, always made him look so manly!

I dropped to the floor of the shower, covering my ears as a weak attempt to stop the voice.

Wait, no, he doesn't have a scar. Shiro has a scar, right across his nose and under his eyes.... his sweet eyes that I've looked into many times for comfort. Oh god his smile... the way he walks and stands always shows the leader that he is.... but when he'd smile, when he was around his friends, he was so gentle and sweet. He's so caring...

"STOP!" I screamed in the bathroom. I just needed to get out of my room, walk around the castle, breath. I got out of the shower and got dressed, not bothering to completely dry.

As I marched down the hall, going no where in particular, I tried to ignore that voice in the back of my head. 

I love Dwight. I only ever want Dwight. He was my every- IS my everything. There will never be anyone like him, no one can replace him. No one will take his place in my heart, ever! No matter how sweet, caring, sexy, tall, mysterious, muscular, handso- NO ONE. 

I was pacing back and forth fighting these thoughts. My mind switched back to the image earlier, the chants of his name in great pleasure. Shiro! Shiro! Shiro!, Shiro!, Shiro! Shiro!, Shir-

"Aleah?" A voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

I gasped, slapping the hand that was on my shoulder away from me and jumping what felt like a yard back.

"Shiro!" I gasped, instantly covering my mouth.

His look was of pure shock. I covered my loud beating heart.

"Oh god, please don't do that.... geez..." I gasped for air as I slowly let myself sit on the floor. "Gave me a bloody heart attack!" I tried to laugh it off.

"I said your name at least three times." He spoke carefully. "You were staring at that counter top like it was the most interesting thing in the world." He joked. "Your hands were gripped so hard that your knuckles were white..."

I looked down to my hands, now noticing how tensed they felt. How long was I standing there?

"Are you alright?" He carefully kneeled next to me on the floor. "What was on your mind that made you completely space out like that?"

I stood up, putting some space in between us. "Nothing," I lied. "I don't remember actually, funny thing right? I don't remember in the slightest." I laughed nervously.

"Are you sure? Because you're getting incredibly worked up for something you can remember?" He asked suspiciously with a worried look.

"It must've been a bad dream I had earlier. Nothing major! I just came in here too-" I took a look around, when did I get in the kitchen?

"Are you feeling alright? You look like you're incredibly lost." Shiro took a step towards me, looking even more worried. "Maybe we should-"

I took a step back. "You know what, I don't feel well. I must be getting a fever, I'll just head back to my room and go get some rest! Goodnight!" I spat as I quickly walked out the kitchen.

"Wait, Aleah." He called for me.

Just keep going, keeeep going.

I ran into my room and locked the door behind me, placing myself against it and slid down the door. That was way to close. Why was he even up? He smelt like sweat, and he was wearing that sleeveless shirt, he must have been training.

I heard light footsteps come from down the hall, slowly getting louder and closer. From the sound I assumed it was Shiro. As they approached my door, I squeezed my grip on my arms, begging he doesn't knock.

Please go away, Shiro. Please don't make me talk about this. I silently begged in my mind.

The footsteps stilled for a few seconds, he was right outside the door. He didn't knock.

A quite sigh came from the other side, it was definitely Shiro. The sound of his footsteps went down the hall until nothing could be heard.

He came to check on me.

I smiled to myself. He's so sweet.

Tears flooded my eyes and poured down my face.

I'm sorry, Dwight. I'm really trying... No one will ever take your place...

I tried to dry my eyes to worthless attempt just for my eyes to continue pouring over. I made my way to my bed, trying to sleep.

\-----------------------------

-Shiro-

"Hey Trish!" I called her in the hall.

It was the next morning and I was hoping Trish may be able to clear some things up.

"Hey Shiro, you heading to the training room too?" She greeted.

"Not right now, I was just wondering if you knew what was up with Aleah?"

She cocked an eyebrow.

"Why? What happened?"

"She was acting very strange last night... I saw her in the kitchen and she was extremely out of it. I tried checking on her but she didn't hear me until I had to physically grab her attention. Even then, she was incredibly jumpy and she acted like she didn't want me anywhere near her. She had no idea where she was a one point. I tried to ask her what's wrong but she didn't want to tell me."

-Trisha-

I internally smirked.

"You seem really worried about her, Shiro." I subtly pointed out.

"I just want to make sure she's ok."  
He quickly replied. "She said she might of had a fever so I'm just checking that she will get the medical attention she needs."

I cocked an eyebrow. "If that's all, maybe you should go talk to her yourself." I smirked

He was at a list of words, he stuttered threw different words before I lightly nudged his shoulder.

"I'm kidding dude, yeah I'll go check on her. Don't worry, school boy." I smacked his shoulder twice before heading towards Aleah's room. Oh this was going to be good.

"..... school boy?" A confused Shiro muttered behind me.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

-Aleah-

"Is that Daniel's N64?" Trish pointed to the system Pidge and Hunk were currently playing.

"Yeah, Pidge loves these kinds of things and I wasn't exactly the nicest person when I first got here... it was an apology thing." I shrug.

"You? Myong Aleah-Na? A bitch? Nooooooo!" She faked a look of shock.

"Don't act so surprised!" I smacked her arm.

"What did you call her?" Lance leaned over our shoulders on the couch.

"I called her a bitch." Trish replied flatly. 

"No," Hunk had paused the video game, now turning his attention to us. "She called you Alayna! Is your name Alayna?!"

My face reddened. I glared at Trisha. "You started this..." I turned back to them. "And technically no, my full name is Myong Aleah-"Na". Which to you non-Koreans, would also be Aleah Myong, Na being my "middle name" for lack of better words. Just like Trish here. Her name is actually Kim Trish-Ah, Kim being a very popular last name in Korea."

"So instead of saying Trish-Ah," Pidge joined the conversation. "You call her Trisha?"

I nodded. "Pretty much."

"..... so you're Alayna?" He added.

"No! Just Aleah!" I panicked. "Dooooont call me Alayna!!"

"Pssssst!" Trish whispered loudly to them. "Call her Alayna!"

"Triiiiiish!" I fake cried.

"HEY SHIRO!" Hunk greeted him as he joined us in the main room. "Guess what Aleah's real name is? It's so cute, it's-" I jumped to cover his mouth.

"Don't you dare!" 

"It's Ala-" I kicked Lance in the back of the head from my spot covering Hunk's mouth.

"SHUT UP LANCE!"

Shiro looked amused. "What? What's your real name?"

"It's Aleah!" I turned around towards him. "Just ignore the-"

Hunk pulled my hands off his mouth while I was distracted. "ITS ALAYNA!"

"DAMN IT HUNK!" I screamed at him while he laughed.

"Why are you so embarrassed by then name Alayna?" Shiro asked. "I think it's cute."

I felt myself freeze up. He thought it was... cute?

I bit my lip. "Well, because it's not my name... I mean I guess it is but it's not really."

"Hey Keith!" Lance greeted the red paladin just now joining the room. "Why, don't we have some things to catch you up on, come on everyone, let's go explain it to Keith in the kitchen!"

"Oooooh!" Trish said suddenly. "Sure Lance, lets all go explain it to Keith. Shiro and Aleah, you guys stay here! You were in the middle of a conversation so you go ahead and finish it!" 

"Wait what?" Keith asked as he was being pushed by Hunk back outside the room. Everyone left except us two.

We stared at the door in confusion and then to eachother.

"Ok..." I managed to say.

Shiro looked extremely annoyed. "I hate them sometimes... anyway, you were explaining your name?" He motioned for me to continue.

"Oh, right!"

I continued to explain to him how Korean names work. We eventually found ourselves sitting on the couch, turned towards each other with our knees nearly touching.

"Wow," Shiro blinked. "I didn't know there was a whole mechanism for Korean names."

"Yeah, we're difficult. We even have our own aging method. In Korean I'm 25, but to every one else in the world, I'm only 23."

He made a look of astonishment. "What? Ok please explain that one."

I giggled and happily explained my culture to him and he listened. It was some time later that I found my self crossed legged on the couch facing him, while his still sat some what normally, one foot still on the ground while his other leg was folded on the couch, making it easier to face me.

"How have you been doing by the way?" He asked suddenly.

His question threw me off a little.

"I've been fine thanks! Been getting a lot done, showing Trish the run of the place so we have two mechanics now, and of course having Trish back in my life has been great-"

"No I mean, how are you doing?" He emphasized the last word.

".... oh." I cleared my throat. "I don't think this is the time to talk about this."

"You seemed very scared last night. To be honest, I was a little worried."

"I'm not going to lie," yes I am. "I don't even really remember last night... I think I might have been sleep walking, or having a fever dream of some kind." I tried to laugh it off.

"Why do I have the feeling you're not being honest with me?" He smiled weakly at me.

I was pretty much stuck. I didn't want to lie to him, but I couldn't tell him either. How is he doing this to me?

I sighed deeply. "Shiro, I honestly don't want to talk about it. Yes something happened last night, I had some very unkind thoughts that I couldn't deal with and I just... got lost in them. I was in the shower and then somehow, I'm in the kitchen... I was very stressed last night, and I'm sorry I worried you, but I honestly don't want to talk about it."

"Unkind thoughts?" He asked cautiously. "What kind of unkind thoughts?"

"Just," I sighed. "Thoughts that I didn't want to have. Unwanted things that I was needlessly thinking about, nothing major."

"Nothing major?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

I moved my sitting position so I was sitting normally. "I know, I know. I just... don't want to talk about it, can we just drop it? Please?"

"Of course... sorry." He looked down towards the cushions of the couch.

Damn it. Now I feel bad... he was just trying to help, and I'm being an ass.

"Shiro, I'll be fine." I placed my hand on his shoulder and pushed it lightly. "I'm not fragile, I should probably get back to work though. I'll see ya around, Shiro." I was desperate to leave the conversation.

He hummed a response. I walked around the couch and headed towards the door.

"You're not still mad are you?" He asked.

I rolled my eyes and tapped the back of his head with the back of my hand.

"It's been a week, man. Of course I'm not still mad!" I laughed. "I know girls can hold grudges, but not me you sexist bastard."

He laughed. "Alright then. Just checking. See ya later." He waved me off.

-Shiro-

Once the sliding doors closed behind her, I feel backwards onto the couch. I stared at the ceiling, trying to still my beating heart.

God damn it she was so close to me. For once I'm glad that she didn't look at me, I couldnt stop staring at her lips! Damn it what is wrong with me?!

I don't know what it was about her that made her appeal to me so much, besides her bright green eyes, red hair and that beautiful tight frame of hers that I want to run my hands up and down.

.... I'm going to pretend I didn't say that.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

-Aleah-

"LINE IT UP!" I screamed at Trish in Korean.

"GOT IT!" She replied. She held the staff above her head at a perfect 180 degree angle with her hands on both side.

I ran behind towards her from behind, used one of the destroyed robots as a platform and jumped off.

"NOW!" I shouted the second I landed on the staff.

Not sparing a second she launched me off the staff, sending me flying straight towards the training droid, sticking my staff threw its head. I flew over its head, landing behind it and flung the still impaled robot over my head and smashed onto the ground.

"WOO!" We both shouted in Korean. "SUCK A DICK!"

"Very nice, ladies." Shiro's voice surprised us on the intercom. "Very impressive."

We looked up to the viewing room.

"Don't you have anything better to do then watches some girls get sweaty together?" I asked smugly.

"Ha ha." He rolled his eyes. "I'd expect that from Trish but not from you."

"What can I say, I rub off on people?" She flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"Anyway, I came down here to see if you wanted to try sparring with me." He suggested.

"And why, may I ask, do you want that embarrassing defeat?" I smirked.

"Right, well you two know each others moves too well. It's time you work with the element of surprise."

"But Shiro!" Trish acted fakely offended. "Why specifically Aleah?" She winked at me. I nudged her with a warning look.

"Because, Trish." Shiro spoke annoyed. "Allura is asking for you to meet her in the control room, that's why."

She looked to me and whispered in Korean. "Excuses."

I replied in Korean. "Trish, stop it. How many times do I have to tell you it's not like that."

"Whatever" she rolled her eyes, starting to walk out. "Enjoying getting sweaty with Shiro!" She sang intentionally in English.

I paced slowly back and forth in the empty training room, waiting for Shiro.

"You ready?" He smirked, stepping into the room.

"How are we doing this? Weapons? Hand to hand? Melee?"

"You seem comfortable enough with a staff." He motioned to the one I was carelessly twirling in my hand. "Ladies choice."

"Oh what a gentlemen." I rolled my eyes and tossed him Trish's staff. "What're the rules?"

"How about three taps, touch anywhere on the others torso with either end of your staff and it's a win?"

"Deal." I smirked. "When do we-AH!" He used his staff to knock my feet from under me, and lightly tapped my chest with it.

"Now. That's one for me."

I gasped. "Oh it's on now you cheater." I giggled. I jumped to my feet with my staff at the ready.

Shiro stood in a defense position. "Oh well look at you, ninja."

I laughed. "That's racist" I swung my first hit sideways to his head, "ya jerk!" He blocked. 

He pushed off my staff and swung for my hip which I blocked. "Is it though? If it's another Asian saying it?" He smirked smugly.

"YES!" I laughed, launching myself towards him for another hit.

\--------------------

-Trish-

Allura and I were walking down the halls, speaking of possible rearrangements of certain mechanics and possible refurbishments. We found ourselves passing the viewing hall for the training rooms, short laughs catching our attention.

"Is that Aleah and Shiro?" She asked. "They look like they're having fun."

"Oh I bet, those crazy kids..." I giggled. 

"They like eachother, correct?" She asked curiously.

I shrug. "I don't know, I'm pretty sure Shiro does, but Aleah is .... stubborn."

"She doesn't like him back?" She asked with concern.

"It's not that she doesn't, as much as its," I looked around. "Look you can't say anything to anyone but she doesn't think she deserves him."

Allura was shocked. "Doesn't deserve him? That's ridiculous. Why would she think that?"

I sighed sadly. "She was so in love with Dwight, that she thinks she'd be doing him wrong by being happy with someone else. She won't try anything because she feels that Dwight was her shot at happiness, and you only get one." I rolled my eyes. "She's a dumbass for thinking like that."

"Poor Aleah..." Allura sighed sadly. "I know what it's like to loose someone important... maybe I could try talking to her?" She smiled hopefully at me.

I clenched my jaw. "I don't know, Allura... I don't want her to think I'm going around telling- ah fuck it, go for it, everyone knows it anyway."

She smiled bigger. "Consider it done! I'm sure I could get through to her. She's liked me from the start unlike everyone else!"

I chuckled. "Alright Princess, now what were the problems with the water temperature you were telling me about?"

"Ah yes, got a little distracted." She continued down the hall. "Right this way."

\-------------------

-Aleah-

"Damn it!" I giggled loudly. "That's not fair!"

Shiro placed a second tap on me, putting us two to one. He just needed one more touch and he won... and knowing him he would never let it go.

Shiro shrugged with a big smile. "All is fair, darling!" He mocked me.

I felt my heart race. God damn it not now!

"Heads up!" He warned me smugly, swiping his staff towards my side.

Instead of dodging like he was probably expecting, I used some quick thinking. I turned my cane side ways bumping his in a block, then quickly used my other hand to disarm him during the surprise block.

He made a quick attempt to grab it again. At least that's what I thought.

He faked the attempt, I pulled his staff out of his reach but he grabbed mine instead.

A quick flick of the wrist and he was able to swipe my feet from under me.

"Oh fuck!" I screamed as I lost my balance.

I struggled to grab the nearest thing to hold my balance.

Unfortunately for Shiro, that thing was the collar of his shirt.

I clamped my eyes shut on impact.

When I opened my eyes, Shiro was just opening his. He was laying right on top of me, his legs in between mine.

His eyes widened when he finally registered what has happened.

"Oh shit." He pushed himself so the weight was on his arms and not on my chest. "Are you ok?"

I couldn't help it. I burst into laughter. It didn't take him long to join me.

We both sit up, facing towards each other in the floor. I wipe the tears from my eyes and take a deep breath.

"Did you seriously do a fucking push up?!" I wheezed through a laugh.

"What?" He said threw smaller laughs.

"You could have just sat up, but no! You COMPLETELY pushed yourself up above me!" He bursts into laughter again. I push his shoulder. "I GET IT!" I flexed my arms and did a caveman voice. "Shiro strong! Shiro big strong man!"

We laughed it out for another minute or so before he stood up and offered me a hand up. I grabbed his robotic arm and quickly yanked myself up, launching my arms around his neck.

"SURPRISE ATTACK!" I screamed, the sudden weight making him fall backwards back into a sitting position.

"What was that for?" He chuckled.

I sat up, straddling one of his legs. "NOW we're even!" I giggled.

I've done this before, with Dwight.

The smile on my face dropped. Shiro must have noticed because his did too.

"Aleah are you ok?"

I quickly stood up. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Shiro stood up and stayed a god two to three feet away from me. "I'm sorry Aleah, I shouldn't have-" He took at step closer to me.

"It's fine!" I placed my open hand on his chest to keep his distance. "Don't apologize, that was all on me. Just," I quickly put my hand back down. "Just don't touch me right now."

He held both of his hands up. "Anything you care to talk about?"

I shook my head, walking around him. "No I'm fine, Shiro. I just need to-" I placed my staff back on its rack in the room and turned back to him from across the room. I put on my best smile. "I'm sorry, we should do this again so I can kick your butt next time!" I tried to laugh it off.

Shiro didn't look convinced. "Aleah,"

My heart skipped a beat. Stop saying my name like that...

"I'll see you around, Shiro!" I waved to him before walking through the sliding doors.

-Shiro-

The doors shut behind her. I didn't make any further attempt to stop her. Whatever was happening to her, she was fighting it.

Could it be a possibility that she felt the same towards me?

I felt my heart flex. That could be what she's fighting, we've never had issues just talking to each other like friends. It's only when we start getting a little too friendly that she starts to pull away.

She is still in mourning.

I sighed. That was true. How long had it been now? It was hard to tell time in space where there is no rising sun or moon. But I felt like it must've been.... it couldn't have been 6 months has it?

I wonder if Pidge has found a way to tell how long it's been?

Either way, whether she feels the same or not, I can't make any type of advance on her. It would just make things harder for her.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

-Aleah-

Trish and I were walking down the into the control room where the boys had just returned from another fight against the Galra. They looked rough. Keith and Lance were arguing again.

"How'd it go?" Trish asked.

"Oh god we almost died!" Hunk squealed. My blood ran cold.

"No we didn't, we were fine." Pidge corrected him. "It's because of the two idiots that things didn't go as smoothly as they could have." He pointed to the still arguing Lance and Keith. 

"I don't know who the other idiot could be because Lance here was the one testing me!" Keith yelled, not taking his eyes off Lance.

"Yeah right! Like it was my fault you like walking into the line of fire!"

"Line of fire?! Oh! You mean where I've been standing for a half hour? And you just CHOSE to shoot there?!"

"YOU WERE NOT JUST STANDING THERE YOU LITTLE PUNK!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING PUNK?!"

They were on the verge of beating eachother up if I didn't step in.

"HEY! BACK IT UP BOTH OF YOU!" I tore them apart, placing my hands on their chests to keep them at arms length. "DO I HONESTLY HAVE TO BE YOUR MOTHER?! DO I NEED TO SEND YOU TO YOUR ROOMS?" I look back and forth between them waiting for a response.

They both huff and turned their backs on eachother.

I sighed. "No? Good. That's what I thought."

"Man," Trish groaned in Korean. "Just kiss and make up already."

Lance jumped to face her pointing at her accusingly. "What did you say?!" He looked at me still pointing. "What did she say?!"

I rolled my eyes. "Nothing. That's not important." I looked around to the other paladins. "Is anyone injured?"

No one spoke immediately. Shiro looked around and groaned that no one was speaking up. "Pidge has a head injury and Lance has a shot wound in the shoulder."

"I'm fine." They both muttered.

I grabbed Lance by the arm and turned him to face me. "Let me see." I demanded more than suggested.

He did what he was told obediently and pulled down the collar of his shirt to show his shoulder.

"See. It's fine." He huffed.

"Pshh..." Keith breathed threw his teeth.

"What?!" Lance snapped.

"You're clearly injured you idiot that's not a scratch that's a deep wound!" He argued.

"Here we go..." Trish groaned while inspecting Pidge's head wound.

"It's nothing! I don't even feel it!" Lance argued. "I'm not a little bitch about every little injury!"

"THATS NOT JUST A LITTLE INJURY! I SWEAR HOW IN THE HELL ARE YOU NOT DEAD YET?!" Kieth screamed.

"OH YOU'D LIKE THAT WOULDN'T YOU?!"

"YOU KNOW WHAT?-"

SMACK

The whole room went quiet. Everyone stared at me with wide eyes. The two boys faces were already starting to form red hand prints.

I took a deep breath. "Are we done?" No response. "Good. Lance you need to calm down. Keith is clearly worried about you and you are clearly hurt badly. And Keith, although your concern is appreciated, working Lance up like this is not any better for him." I looked to Trish. "Trish can you please get Pidge to the med pods for a more in depth look, make sure it's not a concussion," I grabbed Lance by the forearm. "And Lance I'm going to have you follow me so I can tend to you shoulder. Ok?"

"Oh-Ok." He stuttered allowing me to lead him towards his room.

Things were quiet as I led him to his room, picking up the first aid kit from the kitchen on the way. We were seated on his bed, his shirt off as I was applying the cleaning liquid to his wound.

"He only acts like that because he cares about you." I stated calmly.

He huffed. "He doesn't care. I swear I'm just a leg to him. I'm only here to help form Voltron and he knows it."

"That's not true, Lance. He cares about you, we all do."

He breathed a laugh. "You haven't seen me on the field then. While everyone is out there zapping and punching Galra in the face, I'm always somewhere.... screwing up."

I finished wrapping his wound. My heart broke for him.

"Hey." I placed my hand on the other side of his face, pushing it to look at me. "Don't you dare say that. You play an important roll here! Shiro told me you have great aim with your bayard! Better than anyone else on the team. You have a place amongst us and no one can take that from you. Don't talk like you're useless because you're not." I smiled softly at him.

He smiled back and gently slid his arms around me in a hug, his forehead on my shoulder. "Thank you, Aleah. I'm not normally this much of a downer. I just miss home I guess." His gripped tightened around me. I ran my fingers threw his hair to help calm him down.

"Me too, Lance. I want to go home, too." I felt my shoulder dampen. Oh fuck, he was crying.

Poor Lance. He's just a kid... The fate of the universe is too much for one kid. They needed a day off. Could defenders of the universe even get a day off?

"Can I ask you something weird?" He muttered in my shirt, his voice cracking.

I hummed a response. "I know it's strange but... my mom use to sing to me whenever I was this upset.... could you... I don't even care what it is, just anything."

I smiled softly. "That's not weird at all."

As I started singing Roxanne, the only song I could think of at the moment in English, his small tears turned into major water works.

'Poor kid,' I thought to myself as I continued singing 'How long has he been holding this in?'

I continued to run my fingers threw his hair, I tried to be as comforting as possible for Lance.

His tears ceased before the song was over. When I finished he sat back up and didn't look me in my eyes.

"Are you going to be ok?" I asked him cautiously.

"Yeah." He breathed a laugh rubbing his eyes of stray tears. "I think I will. Thank you, I really needed that. We all love your singing you know?"

"What?" I looked confusingly at him.

He chuckled. "Im just saying you mean a lot to us too, and I appreciate you being here for me."

I gently ran my hand threw his hair one more time, like a mother would.

"I'm here for you Lance, we all are."

"You should sing a lot more..." he chuckled. "Everyone else finds your voice very soothing."

I felt my face heat up. "Youuuu should probably get some rest."

He nodded with a small smile on his face.

As I stood up, he called for my attention again.

"Hey, could you possibly not tell-"

"Of course Lance, we'll keep this in between me and you. Get some sleep."

He sprawled himself on his bed. "Thanks Aleah. You're the best."

I giggled. "I know. Goodnight."

I turned his light off, by the lack of response I could tell he was already asleep. He must've been very exhausted.

I slowly and quietly backed out of his room, pressing the button to shut the door.

I heavily exhaled and turned to leave.

"EEK!" I squealed in surprise, running right into Shiro.

"Woah," he gripped my forearms. "Sorry didn't mean to scare you. I was looking for you, and I wanted to check on Lance. I looked in the med bay and your bedroom, this is the only other place I thought you'd be. How's he doing?"

I backed out of his grasp, not immediately noticing the look of disappointment. "He's doing better. I'm having him rest for now."

Shiros eyes fell onto my shoulder with a look of worry, I looked down and say the huge wet spot on my shoulder.

I sighed. "Poor Lance. They're all just a bunch of kids after all..."

"I know," he sighed. "It's a lot to throw on them, defenders of the universe..." His spoke silently. We stayed in silence for a moment before is got awkward. I looked up from the ground to him, but he was already looking at me. He had this soft smile on his face with this look of what I was hoping wasn't gentle adoration.

When I made eye contact with him, he snapped out of it and our faces reddened, looking away from eachother.

"So um," I looked back to the ground. "You-You said you were looking for me. Is Pidge ok?"

He nodded. "Oh uh... yeah he's fine, but I just wanted to talk to you for second." He motioned down the hall. "Do you mind?"

I shrugged and slowly walked along side him.

"I wanted to compliment you for handling the team so well."

I looked at him confused. "Handling?"

"Yeah," he chuckled. "You did the impossible and settled Keith and Lance. That's nearly impossible for me without kicking them out of the room. It's like you have natural mom instincts." He joked.

"Oh yeah, I'm space mom!" I laughed. "That's what Dwight and the others use to call me whenever I had to set down the law on their kiddy asses." I giggle. "Ah shit watch out for space mom," you waved your hands in a joking voice. "Quick pretend you're studying!"

Shiro laughed quietly with you as you both walked down the halls.

"So, Lance said something weird." I killed the silence again.

"Are you surprised?" He smirked with an arched eyebrow. "Is he flirting again?"

"No, and no he hasn't been flirting a lot lately." I joked. "He just said that the team finds my voice soothing.... " his blush covered his cheeks. "...but I don't recall ever singing around you guys." I looked at him suspiciously.

"Yeah," he dragged out the word. "Well, don't get too mad, but they all like to stand around the hall outside of your room when your singing... I've told them not too, but they said that it's the closest reminder they have to home. The Earth songs just soothe them I guess. Remind them what they're fighting for, the planet where those songs came from. Our home."

"Oh." My eyes widened. I didn't know that my singing was all that great. I found myself curious. "So, just them hang out outside my room?"

He chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck, revealing and flexing his bicep again. My jaw clenched.

"Yeah, I guess I listen to sometimes... guilty. But not for long, I swear! I make sure everyone leaves before they stay too long!" He defensively spoke quicker.

"I... don't really know what to think... I'm not mad but.... it's just weird knowing someone's been outside listening this whole time." I chuckled at the end of my sentence.

"I'm sorry, I can tell them to stop."

I waved him off. "You don't have to do that. It just means I'll have to start singing a little louder." I smiled at him.

His right arm slid across my torso stoping on my left side of my waist. He stopped us from walking. I looked over him to see what was wrong and his look... he looked at me in a strange way I don't think I've ever been looked at before. In sheer awe.

It all happened so fast... his fingers dug into my hip, turned me towards him and then his lips were on mine.

Why didn't I react sooner? I could have stopped it at that point, but my body gave in. I was frozen for maybe a second before my hands acted on their own and placed themselves on his shoulder and behind his neck. He pulled me tighter into him with both his hands on my hips.

We were lost in the moment when our lips touched, everything faded away. Even my own eyes were closed and I was lost into the moment.

But I was brought back when Shiro readjusted his grip on me. I gasped and shoved him a little harder than I should have.

He spoke hastily "A-Aleah I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

I didn't let him finish, I took off in a run down the halls and into my room. If he called after me or not, I didn't know. Everything was blocked out by the loud thumps of my steps and the beating of my heart.

The second my door was closed all the tears rushed down.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

How could I have done this to Dwight? Where was my self control?! I'm such an idiot! I knew I should keep my distance from Shiro but everytime he came within reach of me....

God damn it!

There was knock on the door.

It's probably Shiro, just be quiet and maybe he'll get the message.

"Aleah, are you ok?" Allura's voice came through instead.

I slowly stepped towards the door. "Ye-yeah I'm fine." Great I'm stuttering now.

"You ran past me like you running away from something. Can I talk to you for a second?"

When did I pass her?

"I'm not really feeling great right now. Maybe later Allura."

The door slid open, and there stood an annoyed Allura with her hand on her hips.

"Ok now I'm sure something is wrong."

I dropped myself on my bed. "Please not right now. I'm under so much stress and I don't want to talk about it."

She sat next to me. "Is it about Shiro?"

My wise eyes and tense form must have given me away.

She sighed. "Of course it is. Care to tell me what happened?"

I just stared at the ceiling, not replying to her right away.

She began to stand up. "Ok, well, I could just go ask Shiro then-"

"I kissed him."

She stopped moving and looked shocked. "What?"

I groaned and covered my face with my pillow.

"I'm such an idiot!" I cried.

"How-why are you saying such a thing? Isn't this good? You like him don't you?"

"No!..... yes... doesn't matter!" I rolled over onto my stomach.

"Why doesn't it matter? You both like eachother, why not be happy?"

"Because I still love Dwight." I spoke softly. "I love him and I betrayed him. It wasn't enough that I killed him but I've betrayed his heart for someone else!"

Allura gently placed her hand on my arm.

"Aleah, he's gone now."

I shot up. "Gee! Is he?! I DIDNT NOTICE!"

Her startled look made me feel guilty. 

"I'm sorry. I still love him and I promised to keep my heart true to him. And I've destroyed that... if he could see me now..."

"If he could see you now, he would be heart broken that you're keeping yourself from being happy for his sake." She sighed. "You can't linger on him forever, Aleah. If he loved you as much as you loved him, he would want you to find love with someone else and be happy. If Shiro is that person, then why not be happy?"

"I made a promise. Whether Dwight would have wanted it or not, I promised him that he would always be the only one for me... and I broke that promise. I don't want these feelings! I don't want these thoughts! I can't fall in love with Shiro... I won't!"

"When did you make this promise? After he passed? When he couldn't object or approve? How fair is that to yourself?" She started to speak angrier. "Why are you setting these traps for yourself that will only keep you in pain? Why would you not want to progress to the point of happiness? Why are you pining your depressed state onto Dwight like that?"

She paused and stared at me. When no words came out, she sighed and sat back down.

"What Shiro does.... what the paladins do... it's dangerous work. Anything can happen on the battlefield. All I'm saying is, when you decide it's time to be happy again, I hope it's before anything can happen to Shiro. Please keep that in mind. Shiro cares a lot about you, and I can tell you care for him. Just think it over please."

She stood up to leave. "Goodnight Aleah."

I didn't say anything. When the doors closed behind her, the tears began to flow again. 

-Shiro-

I was pacing in my bedroom. 

"I'm such an idiot! Why did I do that to her?! She lost her husband and I had the nerve to... why couldn't I control myself?! What kind of monster am I?!" I threw a punch into the wall with my robotic arm, creating a crater in the wall.

I held my hand in the wall as I took some deep breaths, placing my sweaty forehead against the wall.

I couldn't help myself. I was so thrown off by her sweet comment... I just lost control. For a second, she did too... but I pulled her into that moment of weakness and now...

"She'll never talk to me again..." I muttered to myself.

"Shiro are you ok?" Pidge asked through my closed door.

"I'm fine, Pidge. Just a nightmare."

"In the 10 seconds since you marched into your room?" He asked, calling my bluff.

"Go to bed Pidge I'm fine."

A few seconds passed of silence before Pidges spoke again. "I saw what happened with Aleah."

My heart clenched. So some else witnessed my idiocy.

"I just wanted to make sure you weren't blaming yourself. I can understand how she feels. I know what it's like to loose someone. You begin to loose yourself to the idea that that person is your only priority. You think that nothing else matters no matter what your instincts are telling you. I just wanted to tell you to give her time."

I didn't move from my place against the wall as he continues. "She cares about you too, anyone can see that. But the shock of her emotions taking control scared her. She doesn't want to loose sight of what is important. But she'll eventually come around Shiro. But for now, just give her some space."

I remained silently, having already caught my breath and Pidge's words sinking in.

"Thank you, Pidge."

"Any time." I could hear the smile in his voice. "Goodnight Shiro."

"Goodnight."

Time.... she just needed time... and space.... not that there wasn't enough of that outside the castle...


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

-Aleah-

It's been about a week. I've avoided Shiro like he was a plague. I couldn't be in the same room as him let alone look him in the eye.

I did feel kind of bad for acting this way, but he didn't seem to bothered by it. He gave me my space and he didn't initiate conversations with me. I wasn't mad at him or anything. It wasn't really his fault, and it's not like I didn't want to kiss him at the time.

Things could have been a lot lonelier if it wasn't for Trish and Lance. I've told Trish what happened and of course, she was annoyed at me for running away. I didn't tell Lance but ever since that night he's been hanging out with the two of us more often.

Lance is pretty cool so we didn't mind the extra in our group.

"Well hello hello hello, ladies!" Lance greeted Trish and I as we entered kitchen. 

"Morning Lance." We greeted in unison.

"God I love it when you do that." He used his flirting voice with us.

I just rolled my eyes. This is just what he does. He's not use to being friends with girls so I'm sure this is his coping method. We didn't mind because we knew he was just playing around.

"So!" He jumped in between us, wrapping an arm around both our shoulders. "I'm thinking today you girls can teach me that sweet staff fighting you two do! And then we can work on some of that team work attack you guys do so flawlessly!" He let go of us and started doing some fake karate moves and sounds.

Trish spoke in Korean. "This kid I swear..."

"Be nice, he just wants to hang out."

"I was thinking about that by the way. Since he's been hanging with us anyway, we can get the low down on him and mullet head." She smirked evilly.

"Trish-ah just let it go." I giggled. "If they're into each other they can figure it out on their own."

"Not if they both think the other is straight."

"Who says they aren't?"

Lance broke in. "Heeeeeeey! Stop talking shit about me in Chinese!"

Trish sighed. "For the last time Lance, we're not Chinese, were Korean."

"Eh tomato tamato, Korean Chinese."

I giggled. "Lance that is incredibly racist."

"Hey," he points to Trish. "She called me Mexican and I didn't get mad."

"Close enough." She rolled her eyes.

"TWO. SEPARATE. COUNTRIES!" He argued.

I groaned. "You guys are dumb."

Not noticing Shiro and Pidge walked in, the three of us continued talking.

"So I'm curious, what do you girls even do when we're not here and kicking Galra butt?" Lance asked.

"Checking maintenance, salvaging destroyed training robots, make out with each other, learn Altean, work on-"

"What?!" He laughed.

"She said learn Altean!" I shouted at him. "Geez Lance, pay attention."

"Do you two really...!" He had this look of an excited 5 year old.

I rolled my eyes. "She was kidding Lance."

"Yeah," she giggled. "Besides, I'm not the one she'd make out with."

My face reddened and I felt angry. I hooked my foot under her chair and sharply pulled it up, throwing her off her seat.

She laughed incredibly hard. "You fucking bitch!" She yelled from the ground.

I couldn't stay mad at her. "Sorry, but I didn't hear what you just said. Wanna repeat it?" I joked.

She pulled herself back up onto the chair. "You can't stay mad at me you ho- oh, hey Shiro, hey Pidge."

My head snapped around and saw Pidge and Shiro who just stared at us in shock.

Pidge spoke first. "What is wrong with you tw-"

"DISTRACTION!" Trish yelled as she sharply pulled my chair out from under me.

I screamed in Korean. "OH YOUR FUCKING DEAD!" I stood up and ran after her.

"IF YOU CAN CATCH ME BITCH!" She replied in Korean.

I chased her out of the kitchen and passed the boys. 

"CAT FIGHT!" Lance laughed as he chased after us. 

One of the pure moments. Us all chasing each other down the halls laughing our asses off. 

\---------------------

"It's weird." Lance spoke up suddenly.

"What?" I asked.

"Growing up, we all had those moments where we looked up at the stars and mapped out the constellations and now..... we are the constellations."

Me, Lance, and Trish were all lying on the floor of Lance's bunk room, staring at the ceiling and listening to Trish's (now Lance's) CD player. We've been sitting like this for a couple of hours talking about nonsense mainly.

"....... wow Lance that's deep." Trish commented with slight mockery. I laughed.

"Yeah what are you smoking and pass me some." I nudged him.

"I know right?" He groaned. "If only! God knows I could use a joint right now." He placed his hand over his eyes in annoyance.

"You smoke?" Trish asked. "Damn Lance!"

"Use too. Can't now, can I?" He sighed. "What about you two?"

"Oh hell yeah." We both giggled.

"Our last one was the day before our mission started. We all hung out with our family and friends and then our last night in the garrison we just smoked." Trish laughed. "Travis tried to out smoke Daniel."

"Oh shit that's right!" I giggled. "And then we tried to get Daniel and Travis to hook up!"

"Daniel was gay." Trish informed Lance. "Use to have a big crush on Travis."

"He use to have a crush on Dwight to.... but then I came into the picture and BAM MUTHA FUCKA HE MINE!" I kicked into the air.

We laughter together again until Trish cleared her throat. "So Lance..." oh shit. "What's your deal anyway? Like, obviously you like women so are you straight? Bi?"

"Full on bi." He said flatly. "And damn well proud of it."

We both "oh"d him.

"So you like anyone?" Trish added.

"Uh what?" He looked over to her.

She giggled. "Never mind actually. Aleah and I have to head back to our dorms anyway." She sat up. "Captain Shiro should be here any minute for curfew." She did a fake deep authoritative voice.

Lance nervously laughed. "About that..." he looked over to me. "Have things been ok with you and Shiro? I haven't seen you two talk to eachother in over a week, it didn't have anything to do with..."

My eyes widened. "Oh, no no no no! It had nothing to do with you!" I sighed. "We just...."

"Are being incredibly stupid." Trish folded her arms and groaned.

I hit her arm. "Shut up." I looked back over to Lance with sincere eyes. "Things are just weird now so he's giving me my space is all."

He didn't look to pleased with that answer. "O...k... well goodnight ladies." He ended with his flirtatious smile.

I opened his door and we rolled our eyes.

"Night Lance." We spoke in unison.

We made our way back to our separate rooms, unaware that Shiro was at the opposite end of the hall checking in with Keith for curfew.

Lance turned around and waved to his teammates before going to bed himself.

-Shiro-

"What the hell were they doing in his room?" Keith asked.

"I'm not sure." I furrowed my eyebrows watching the two girls walk down the hall way talking in Korean. "The three of them have been hanging out together for the past week, so maybe just... hanging out."

He muttered. "I don't like it."

I looked over to him. "What?"

His eyes widened. "Uh, nothing I just said goodnight."

"Oh... goodnight." I waved to him and he shut the door. Maybe Keith did have a thing for Lance... or maybe Trish... although I've never seen them really talk to each other... 

I stopped walking when I approached Lance's door. What if he had a thing for Aleah? They get along moderately... at least I think they do. I've seen them train together at times, how much do they see each other actually?

"Shiro you ok man?" Lance interrupted my thoughts.

I didn't realize I was staring at the ground, and I didn't realize Lance had opened the door when he heard me approaching.

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry I spaced out a bit. I'm just checking in for curfew."

He saluted me. "Yup, all here and accounted for space dad."

Space dad?

"Don't call me that." I glared at him. He shrugged.

"By the way," I crossed my arms. "What were Trish and Aleah doing in your room?... so close to curfew that is."

He held this big grin. Great.

"Oh you know just hanging out, talking, reminiscing, you know the things best friends do."

I rolled my eyes. "Is that so?"

"Yeah. Why?" He crossed his arms. "Jealous?"

"Lance." I warned him.

He sputtered into a laugh. "I was kidding! All we did was talk about how much we miss Earth. That's all."

"Alright well, try to wrap it up before curfew next time." I shrugged it off.

"Yeah ok." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Hey Shiro, before you go. I have to ask. Is everything alright with you and Aleah?"

I clenched my jaw not really knowing what to say. Was everything alright? No of course it wasn't. But how do you exactly explain that to someone else?

"Actually, never mind. It's not really any of my business." He waved it off. "I'll be heading to bed. Good night, Shiro."

"Alright, good night."

He slid the door shut and I continued walking down the corridor. Had Aleah said something to Lance that made him worry like that? I can't imagine she would have gone around telling everyone.

\------------------  
-a few days later-

-Aleah-

The boys have returned from another win against the Galra. All of us except Lance (who was taking a shower) were gathered into the control room talking about music we missed. Trish had one head phone in her ear when she suddenly jumped up from her seat and unplugged it, making her and Lance's CD player go to speaker.

"Do that one dance baby"

"Yes~!" Trish started bopping to the beat. She reached out for my hand.

"You don't know how to do that?  
Baby do it for your grandma"

"Oh god no, Triiiiish!" I groaned with a smile as she pulled us in front of the entrance to the control room.

"Come on you know the dance." She nudged me. We had everyone's attention and they all looked at us with interested.

"God how long has it been since I heard this song?!" Hunk laughed.

"Girl ain't that Zay and Zayion?  
Yas  
Don't both of 'em got a girlfriend?"

Lance then groggily walked in from behind us. We only smiled at him before we got ready to kick into the song.

"Girl I don't care, I don't care girl, he still cute"

The song then started and Lance kicked into the dance with us, getting a cheer from us as and our friends.

https://youtu.be/S7uNBC6VEuA

"What is this dance?" Allura asked with a big smile.

"It's called the Juju, baby!" Lance laughed as he kept up with our dance. "Really big back on Earth."

"Right, just seems to be a lot of flailing your arms about." Coran pointed out.

"That's practically it. You two wanna learn?" I invited them.

\--------------

-Later that night-

I couldn't sleep. After our little dance party, I had too much fun to be able to just shut off, I was left wandering the halls thinking to myself.

I started to notice things in everyone that reminded me of my friends... Lance was so much like Daniel. Out there, great sense of humor, prideful, he even had an inferiority complex like Daniel did.

Keith was 100% like Travis. Head strong, to himself at first but grew into a team player, even had the rebel thing going.

Pidge was practically his brother. I knew Matt on a minor scale but we still got along pretty well when we saw each other. He was in my navigation class and I had to work with him on a few things. It was terrible how he was still missing, it must be destroying Katie... I mean Pidge every second of their day.

Hunk... he was kind of his own person when I thought about it. Sure he had some aspects from everyone, Trish's love of food, Travis' sense of exploring, Daniel's sense of love for his friends. Hunk was practically a teddy bear. After Shiro and Trish, he was someone I knew I could go to.... at the moment it was just he and Trish I could go to. Which made me think.

Shiro.

He was a strong leader. Just like back in the garrison, he was the one everyone could depend on. He always knew just what to do.

He was thrown into leadership so quickly but adapted so well and before things became too weird with us, I honestly felt like I could trust him with anything. Like I could tell him my biggest secret and he wouldn't tell a soul.

Like Dwight

What? No. He's not like Dwight. Dwight was... Dwight is Nigerian, Shiro is Asian. Dwight had very short hair, Shiro has black and white hair. Dwight is 5'11, Shiro must be... 6'2?

These differences were very insignificant. What did they even have in common?

They're both very caring of other people, they are both very strong, they're natural leaders, they have sincere smiles, they know how to comfort me, they drive me crazy!

Those are all the reasons I fell in love with Dwight.

Uh! That damn voice in my head!

My arguing thoughts were interrupted by a muffled sound. I stopped walking and took the time to realize where I was. I was in Pidge and Shiro's hall way, more specifically next to Shiros room.

Another weird sound. It was like a groan of pain. It was definitely coming from Shiros door. I placed my ear against it and listened.

"No! Just leave me alone!" His voice, muddled by the door, yelled.

I knocked on his door lightly. "Shiro are you ok?"

The sounds continued. I knocked again.

"Shiro, answer me." No reply. "Alright, I'm coming in then."

I waited a few seconds to give him a chance to deny me, but his groans and moans of pain continued.

I sighed taping the open button on his door. It slid open and his sounds became clearer. It took a few steps into the room to realize that Shiro was having a nightmare, one that seemed to be very violent.

Shit these look like the nightmares Daniel use to have. But this is much more violent.

I couldn't just stand there, Shiro looked like he was in pain! I crept up quietly to his bed and kneeled next to him, knowing not to touch him.

"Shiro." I called out to him softly. "Shiiiiiroooo! It's just a nightmare. Wake up." I tried to keep my voice down to not startle him.

I lightly placed my cold hand on his sweat coated arm. I carefully nudged him and softly caressed his arm.

"You're ok, Shiro." I whispered to him.

He's still not waking up. I tried to give him a gentle nudge again while softly calling out his name.

He suddenly clutched my wrist with his human arm, and raised his glowing robotic arm over my other shoulder. He didn't move, my heart was racing.

I whispered to him again. "Shiro, its me. Aleah. You're ok." He let go of my wrist and sat up fully looking around for whatever was attacking him in his dream.

"You're ok." I grabbed both sides of his face, like I would Daniel, and had him look straight into my eyes.

"It's just me, you're safe, you're here, nothing is hurting you. It's just you and me in this room."

Daniel was attacked by some angry space beast while we were scouting a planet and almost killed. He had nightmares for weeks and me and Travis were the only ones who knew how to calm him and wake him up. Reminding him that he was safe with friends always helped bring him out of it.

"Aleah?" Shiro muttered. He took a deep breath. "What are you doing here?"

I released my hold on his face.

"I was walking by and you were making these crazy noises, I came to check on you and you were having a nightmare. Are you ok?"

He was still trying to catch his breath. "Are you ok?" He asked me.

I breathed a laugh. "Yeah I'm fine. But I asked you first." I stood up and grabbed a rag from his bathroom and soaked it in cold water and rang it out. 

"It- I was back in Haggars lab. She was experimenting on me and then... were you talking to me? I heard your voice."

I lightly dabbed his forehead and neck with the cold rag.

"Yeah I was trying to wake you up without scaring you. Didn't really work out." I joked.

"...Did I hurt you?" I stopped patting his face.

"No." He didn't need to know he almost broke my shoulder.

"Are you sure?" He asked again as I went to ring the rag out again and hang it to dry.

"Yes I'm sure." I returned back to his room. "Do these nightmares happen often?"

"Yes and no." He shrugged. "They normally happen after a fight with the Galra. Sometimes they're about Haggar, sometimes there about my team mates, sometimes..." he trailed off. 

"...yes?" I urged him to continue.

"My nightmares are always about someone hurting me or me hurting someone." He stood up and held his robotic arm up to me. "I've had dreams where I loose control of this thing and attack those I care about."

"That wouldn't happen Shiro." I walked closer to him and placed my hand in his robotic one. Holding it up for him to see. "You control this. It's apart of you, you're not a part of it. You can easily grasp anything and control how tightly you hold it. Only you can decided if what you're holding breaks or not."

He stared down at our hands and looked back up to me with a small smile. "How is it possible that you always know what to say?"

I was taken aback by his question. "What?"

He breathed a laugh. "You always know what to say to people. You separated Keith and Lance, you consoled Lance when he needed it, you've managed to wake me up without any casualties," he joked. "And you knew how to make me feel better."

"When you care about someone the words just come to you." I smiled softly to him. "You've helped me through some tough shit, I thought I'd return the favor."

What the fuck did I just say?

"Care about, huh?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "To be honest I thought you hated me."

"Why would I-... oh." I looked down and noticed my hand still lying in his. I slid out of his grip and kept my eyes to the floor.

"I can't say I'm sorry enough." He huffed after a brief silent moment ment. His eyes were soft as he looked at me sadly. "I promised that I would never invade you like that and I broke a promise and hurt you. I didn't mean to violate you in such-"

"Do-don't use that word." I stopped him. "What you- what we did was completely consensual on both sides and was a moment of weakness for both of us. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Then why do I feel like I hurt you?"

'Because you put me through a lot of unwanted thought.'

"Just stop worrying about it. All is forgiven let's just pretend it never happened ok?" I asked frantically.

He held a look of uncertainty. Like he didn't know what to think. It's not really something we could just forget about.

"Ok?" I asked again, this time with a soft smile.

He smiled nervously. "If that's what you want, Aleah."

"It is what I want." I sighed. "Thank you, Shiro."

"I should be thanking you. For helping me through that nightmare." He chuckled.

"Anytime." I smiled. "I should let you get back to sleep. Goodnight Shiro."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

-Aleah-

A frantic knock was hit on my bedroom door startling me. It was night time.... who the hell could that be?

"Whaaaaaat?!" I groaned from my bed.

"COME JOIN US OUTSIDE!" Lance yelled from the hall.

"Outside what? We're in space!"

He chuckled. "No shit. Pidge found a cool Earth like planet and we thought it'd be cool to hang out, set up a camp fire...COME ON HUNKS MAKING SMORES!"

"How is he making smores?" Keith’s voiced grumbled out in the hall.

"Is Keith with you?" I asked, pulling on a pair of pants.

"Yeah he came and got me. Doesn't matter," I opened my door and glared at them through my sleepy eyes. "GET OUT HE-" he began to call again but stopped when he was me. They both had the look of shock on their face.

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

I then realized they were staring at my hair 

I picked up a lock of the clean and curled mess. "Oh yeah, I washed out the dreads last night. I was going to fix it in the morning. Is it weird?"

They snapped out of it and Lance shook his head violently. "Not at all! Wow it's kind of sexy actually. Damn didn't know your hair was that thick." He grinned.

I smacked his arm. "Thanks, Lance. But don't get use to it. Now why don't you boys lead me to that campfire! Sounds like a fun little bonding moment for the team."

The three of us walked side by side, me in between them. Lance was explaining how they convinced Allura and Shiro to stop the ship long enough to take a breather on this planet. Keith didn't really say anything, as he was more focused on pulling a lock of my hair down and watching it spring back up.

"Enjoying yourself?" I smirked at him.

His hand froze in place before dropping it to his side with a blush on his face and a strong glare to the floor.

"S-sorry."

Oh my god he's adorable. I flung my arm over his shoulder and pulled him into a side hug.

"Ugh, I love you kids!" I moved my other arm around Lance's neck. "Honestly you kids are the most adorable things in the world!"

"ALEAH!" They both yelled and tried to squirm out of my grasp.

"Dude let go!" Lance laughed.

"ALEAH!" Keith struggled in between syllables. "Don't put me any closer to this idiot!"

"Hey!" Lance cried. "Who are you calling an-"

"Oh my god look at you!" Trisha intercepted up into the hallway with a guitar.

"Is that guitar from our ship?" I asked letting go of the boys.

"More importantly," she strolled over to me with a mischievous grin grabbing one of my locks. "I haven't seen your hair like this since.... since...." her grin dropped when she realized.

I sighed and softly smiled. "My wedding?"

I could hear the boys breath hitch. Trish just smiled sadly and looked down awkwardly. "Yeah.... but you look nice!"

I giggled awkwardly. "Thanks, now don't get use to it!" I tried to joke. "It's only temporary and I plan on dreading it tomorrow morning." I linked my arms around the boys arms. "Now lets go try some space smores!"

Even when I lead the boys onward I didn't see the proud smiles on their faces. The subject that was once a match to kerosene wasn't as dangerous anymore. I actually really enjoyed talking about my friends. True I wasn't handling it as well as Trish was, but seeing as we were on opposite sides of the tragedy, she understood.

Some nights, she would crawl into my room, telling me in detail the nightmares she had of Travis attacking her and her foggy memories of attacking me and Dwight. She'd sometimes apologize, assuming she was the one who infected him. Seeing as the footage from the security cameras were erased, Pidge's way of helping us move on and not linger on the past, we'll never actually know.

None the less, Dwight, Daniel, and Travis are gone. Nothing can change that. But what I do know is that I have Trish. By some miracle, I still have Trish and I found a way to keep living. Whether that be her coming back into my life, the people I've come to be friends with, and I admit maybe even Shiro.

"Oh my gosh." My thoughts were interrupted by Hunk. When did we get outside? "Your hair is different."

Hunk looked shocked. Eyes wide with a big smile.

"Your hair is almost the same color as Coran’s!" Pidge pointed out.

"Is that right? Alright let's have a look." Coran stood up and circled me. "Yup, we must be well related!"

"Really?" I smirked. "Let me try." I took a lock of my hair across my face and gripped it inbetween my nose and top lip, making a curly red head mustache. "Coran, Coran, The gorgeous man!" I sang in his accent.

They laughed and Coran wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me towards him. "That settles it! We're related! And as you can see paladins, good looks run in the family!"

"We should make you an honorary Altean!" Allura softly giggled.

"I would love that, Princess."

Walking into view was Shiro walking out of the forest. His arms were full of what I could assume was meant to be firewood.

"I got the firewood!" He placed some in the fire and discarded the others near by. He stood up straight, unknowingly standing next to me. "What did I miss? Why is everyone laughing?"

No one said a thing, I could see Pidge with a big smile on his face while Lance and Kieth looked back between me and him.

I still had a lock of my hair in a mocking mustache when he followed their looks to me.

He studied my face for maybe a full second before registering my hair.

"Oh." His eyes widened. A dark red took over his cheeks. "You changed you hair... it looks great!”

I hoped the hair across my face covered my blush, which wasn't as dark thankfully. If not then maybe the dark and soft fire light may have helped.

Whether he noticed the heat across my face or not, I was unsure. Because the second he noticed Coran's arm still wrapped around me with a matching shocked look, he burst into laughter, the other paladins joining in.

"I wish we had a camera." He wiped a tear from his eye with a big smile.

"I would love a camera right now!" Trish giggled from her seat on a dead tree cut into log seats around the fire. She continued in Korean. "I would takes pictures of every time you and the black paladin acted like blushing messes around eachother." She winked.

We never used anyone's name when we spoke to eachother. This avoided anyone knowing we were talking about them and avoided awkward situations. We usually called them by the colors of their lions, or princess, or mustache.

"Trish-ah!" I whined.

"What just happened?" Hunk looked at us both with interest.

I clenched my jaw, thinking of an excuse. "She wants me to sing with her."

At that everyone except Me and Shiro eagerly sat around the fire. From their, they stared up at me.

"Well..." Lance shouted. "Were waiting!"

I looked up to Shiro with a confused look. He shrugged.

"I told you they liked your singing." He smirked and sat next to Hunk.

I looked around at my impatient friends, waiting for me to sit down. I smiled down at them. "What do you want to hear?"

Their grins stretched. "Whatever is fine!" Lance shrugged. "Just... anything."

Kieth, who sat next to him, smiled in agreement. "It doesn't even have to be in English." He encouraged us.

"Fine.... but I'm warning you..." I sat down next to Trish, taking the guitar she handed to me. "We sing well in English, but in Korean-"

"-And together!" She added.

"We astound and amaze."

"Stay." She nudged my arm with a soft smile, telling me what song to play.

"Whatever you say your majesty!" I joked.

I played the first few notes, motioning to Trish to sing first.

"tukhamyeon geuchin maldeullo  
nae mame sangcheoreul naenohgo  
mianhadan mal hanmadi eobsi  
tto na hanja wirohago  
oneul harudo hoksi  
nal tteonalkka neul buranhae hae  
I just want you to stay"

Most of them began to sway with the soft music that I played. I took a deep breath and looked back down to the guitar, preparing to sing the next part.

"jeomjeom mudyeojyeo ganeun  
neoui geu mupyojeong soge  
cheoncheonhi naeryeonohjamyeo  
geoure soksagigon hae  
nal dangyeonhage saenggakhaneun neojiman  
geuge neodawo geuraedo  
Stay stay stay with me"

Trish began the clapping part and sure enough everyone joined in. As we carried on Trish and I took turns singing different parts. Occasionally I'd look up from the guitar and Trish and I would smile at eachother. Other times, id look around, making sure our audience wasn't getting bored. Judging by their relax moods, they were just fine.

At one point, I made eye contact with Shiro while I was singing. It was a short glance but it was just long enough to sing the words "Stay with me" practically to him. I quickly looked back down to the guitar upon noticing my mistake. I wouldn't look back up until I strummed the final note.

Our listeners were quick to a soft applause.

"Don't ever loose your voice!" Lance pointed to the both of us.

Hunk faked a sob. "Yeah, don't do that to us!"

"What was that song about?" Allura asked.

Trish smiled softly and was quick with a response.

"It's about begging the one you love to stay with you, no matter how difficult you or they might be. It's about how even though most moments are spent in cold silence, you're willing to put up with it because it's with them."

"That's beautiful." Allura spoke softly.

I look at Trish with a confused look, and she looked back with a crooked smile and a shrug of her shoulders.

"Well that's what I believe it about." She shrugged.

"What do you think it's about, Aleah?" Pidge asked.

My eyebrows raised. I was shocked by the sudden spotlight thrown onto me. I cleared my throat.

"Seeing the one you care for slowly drifting away. You're worried that they're loosing interest in you because of the silent moments and the fighting. But in reality, there's no one in the world you'd rather be in silence or arguing with except them. You're begging them to stay because moments like those are the ones you cherish."

They stayed silent, not really sure how to respond to that. In fear I might have ruined the fun mood I smiled again.

"So... anymore requests or can I put this away?"

"Beyoncé." Was all that was heard. I looked straight to the known culprit.

Kieth groaned. "Really?"

Lance glared at him. "Yes really!

"I don't think I know how to play any Beyoncé." I smiled sadly. "Sorry Lance."

"Do you know the words to Halo?"

"Well yeah but-"

"Give me." He stood up, holding his hand out to me. I reluctantly passed the guitar to him.

He sat down and carefully tuned the guitar. Without warning he started to play. I had to thrust myself into the song to hit the cue on time.

"Remember those walls I built"

Everyone oo'ed at the first line I sang. I. Freaking. Love. Beyoncé. So I was more then willing to put more than just my voice into her music and really let myself feel the music as I swayed back and forth in my seat to the lyrics.

"Well, baby, they're tumbling down  
And they didn't even put up a fight  
They didn't even make a sound

I found a way to let you win  
But I never really had a doubt  
Standing in the light of your halo  
I got my angel now"

-Shiro-

Holy. Damn.

I've heard Aleah sing many times before. While I'm passing her room, or herself in the hallway, even while she's waist deep in a panel of the ship doing maintenance. But never have I heard her sing like this.

She seemed so lost into the song with her eyes closed and her gentle swaying, that she had no idea the looks she was getting.

This is the first time any of us was actually watching her sing. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge had these big childish smiles on their faces while Kieth, Allura, and Coran were watching her with bright eyes and proud smiles. I'm not sure when I leaned forward over my cradled arms, I didn't know how big of a smile I had on, the only thing I could register through my brain at that moment, was how beautiful she looked.

Wait.....

"I swore I'd never fall again"

Her eyes opened again and her smile started to fade.

"But this.... don't even feel like... falling"

She looked around at everyone with frantic eyes before smiling awkwardly.

"I'm... sorry I don't know the rest of the song..." she was suddenly acting self conscious.

The words became to real to her. She aborted.

"I'm sorry Lance, you can continue the song if you want. I'm sure you have a great voice." She tried to smile sincerely.

He smiled back at her. "That's... okay... not sure how I can follow a performance like that." He was trying to make light of the situation.

"Sorry..." she crossed her arms over her stomach and kept her stare at her feet. Her soft smile along with the self conscious pose made for a sad sight to behold.

Trish scooted closer to her and wrapped an arm around he waist. She muttered something to her in Korean with a worried look, before Aleah straightened up and smiled.

"No I'm fine really." She responded to her. She clapped her hands on her knees. "So... what's going on with those smores?!"

Hunks face went from one of concern to a sudden grin.

"OH THATS RIGHT!" He reached in a bag behind him and dug out smaller packages of food. "So I know we don't have marshmallows here... or chocolate, or graham crackers, but!" He held out his hand to reveal some alien type looking food. "Allura did help me find these!"

"What are they?" Kieth asked carefully.

He stuck two of the odd objects on a stick and held them over the fire. "Well, thanks to that little book of alien food references Aleah made for me, I was able to find a perfect chocolate, marshmallow, graham crackers taste alike! They may be a tad more tougher than real things and maybe a little less sweet, buuuuuut," he removed the melted piece of purple goop and smash it in between a red chip looking thing and two brown things and shoved it in Lance's mouth.

With waiting eyes, everyone watched Lance chew carefully. His eyes lit up. "Oh my god."

"See." Hunk smirked.

He passed around the food to everyone else and within a few minutes, we were all roasting the odd food over the fire.

The excitement having died down, we all sat in silence. Just the sound of the cackling fire and the small quiet conversations amongst the group.

"Hey Aleah." Kieth carefully spoke. The two chatting Korean girls stopped talking and she gave him a welcoming smile.

"What's up, Kieth?"

"What was your wedding like?" His question spread silence across the group. She looked taken back by the question.

I lightly nudged Kieth with my hand. "Maybe this isn't the best topic for her right now-"

"No!" She raised a hand to stop me. A soft smile spread across her and Trish's face. "I... I'm ok. I actually really love this story."

"Are you sure?" I asked her.

She nodded enthusiastically. "I'll be ok, I promise."

Trish nodded in agreement. "She loves this story! She use to tell it to us on the ship all the time AND WE WERE THERE!" She nudged Aleah with her shoulder.

Aleah giggled. "Ok so,"

"IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT!" Trish cut her off with an ominous voice.

"Stop!" Aleah giggled, she looked back to us. "No, it was just a day in space. You see, Dwight and I didn't leave Earth engaged. We were still dating, just boyfriend and girlfriend stuff, with no thoughts on our future what so every. Dwight came from a broken home and I.... well let's just say my parents sucked." She giggled.

"We never spoke of getting married, we never wanted kids, we only ever spoke of doing the mission, coming back, and getting a house with tons of cats." Her look softened and her smile faded again. "But one day... When I was repairing an air leak in one of the escape pods, I messed up something and the doors locked shut. I couldn't get out. And in my struggle to open the doors, I released the launch button. With the air leak still happening.... well let's just say if it wasn't for Daniel being close by and sprinting for Dwight,"

"And Dwight's big ass muscles." Trish added with a wink.

Aleah breathed a laugh. "That too." She stopped for a second before sighing and continuing. "If it weren't for them, the pod would have shot into space and I would have suffocated."

She bit her lip and smiled. "That was the first time our situation really weighed onto us... we were lost in space... we could die at any given moment... so one night, Dwight found this beautiful moon somewhere in the universe. He took me out to it and proposed to me... he told me that our lifetime was uncertain, and if-"

I felt a lump in my throats when he voice cracked. Trish was lightly stroking her back as her eyes began to tear up.

"If anything happened to one of us... he wanted us to be fully committed to eachother in the most possible way, so we can carry on to the other side knowing that what we had was real." She bit her lip.

Kieth held a guilty look as he tried to stop her. "Aleah, you don't have to..."

She quickly wiped away her tears and looked back up at him with a smile. "A few days later we found a planet not to far away where we held our ceremony, if you could call it that." She giggled. "We didn't have rings and we didn't have a preacher, but we had our friends and eachother... and when you're in deep space, who knows how far away from human life, that wasn't that bad. It was the happiest day in my life.... probably the happiest day ill ever have... but Ill always hold that memory close to my heart."

She smiled softly down at the ground as she finished. Anyone could tell she was fighting back tears. When she looked back up at us and saw our expressions, her dropped.

"Oh god I'm sorry." She apologized. "I didn't mean to dampen the mood like that."

"No, it's fine Aleah." Allura sat closer to her.

"No, it's not. We all came out here to have fun and..." she stood up. "I think I actually need a few moments to myself, so I'll just be heading back to the ship." She stood up and walked back to the ship. "I had fun you guys, goodnight."

The guys called after her, but she kept going. We fell into a silence for a while, reflecting on her words. I took this moment to notice the time.

"Alright, we should probably all head to bed too... it's late."

Everyone groaned and started packing up their things. Trish approached me with an unreadable look.

"Can I talk to you, Shiro?"

Trish and I never really talked to eachother, so one could imagine my surprise. "Um, yeah sure."

She looked back at the team who began returning to the ship. When she returned her look to me, she had a strong serious expression.

"Please don't be discouraged about Aleah."

My eyes widened. "What?"

"She's lost right now and she isn't thinking straight and I'm worried that she may never think straight again, but please don't be discouraged." She sighed. "She likes you, she really likes you, or... at least she wants to like you but she can't... or she's not letting herself... would be a better way to explain."

I shook my head. "Wait, what?"

She sighed again, seating herself back on the log. She motioned for me to sit in the one next to it, which I obliged.

She stayed silent, summoning up her thoughts, or trying to debate if she should say something or not. It seemed either way, against her better judgment, she spoke anyway.

"She thinks she doesn't deserve to be happy anymore." Before I could voice my protest she continued. "I know, stupid right? She's one of the most genuine, kind people in the world, or at least she can be, she does have an anger problem, always has, but that's not the point!" She looked straight into my eyes, my body suddenly straightening at attention.

"She thinks that Dwight was all the happiness she's allowed. She feels that if she tries to move on, she'd be hurting Dwight and taking more than she can be allowed. She had this... delusion that a human can only have so much happiness in their life before they over step and something bad happens." She stopped for a second to regain her thoughts. "She thinks that if she lets herself near someone like that again, you for example, she'd loose them too as punishment for cheating Dwight."

Silence. She looked back at me waiting for a response.

"That's ridiculous." Was all I could say. She groaned.

"I know right?! If anyone deserves happiness at this point it's her! But.. the reason I bring this up too you, is that I honestly think you may be the only one to help her at this point." She rubbed her temples.

"And why do you think that?"

She groaned in annoyance. "She won't....talk to me! Me of all people! I come crawling to her all the time in tears and she lets me vent about the nightmares I have and how I miss everyone but.... she never.... she won't talk about it! It's NOT healthy!!!"

My eyes widened. I never pried into her emotional state because I assumed she would at least talk to Trish, her best friend about it. So that means this entire time she's been keeping it to herself.... Trish is right, this could not be healthy.

"But she's talked to you! I know she has. She's told me how supportive you've been and she told me how she told you about how she blames herself for everything... Shiro, I DIDNT EVEN KNOW SHE BLAMED HERSELF IN THE FIRST PLACE! I'm her best friend and she... she doesn't even want to talk about it with me...." she bent over into a sobbing fit. "I'm so scared for her! I try so hard to get her to talk about it, but she just.... won't.... she shrugs it off and just says things like it's in the past, nothing can change it. Shiro, I'm scared she'll try to kill herself!

My heart must have stopped.

"H-How...?" My mouth hung open but I couldn't produce the words.

She tried to compose herself before continuing. "I've seen the eyes of someone whose given up, I've seen how they act, how they interact with people... I've lost people to suicide before. Her eyes look so empty to me now." She bit down on her knuckle, eyes kept low with a look of fear and concern.

I was in shock... I just assumed she was fine now... after all she really only made one attempt on her life, but that was in a moment of great emotion.

One attempt that I'm aware of...

She couldn't have... she's seemed fine recently, I highly doubt she's been considering.... but what if she has?

I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, bringing her crying eyes attention back to me. "What do I need to do?"


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

-Aleah-

I was back in my room for maybe a full half hour. I couldn't bring myself to cry after telling me and Dwight's story. I was too happy about the memory. But deep inside I felt this feeling of familiar dread. The feeling as if I'm rotting on this inside from my chest. I was only able to lie on my bed with my hand clutching my chest and my eyes staring a hole into the ceiling.

I could've stayed like that for hours if I had not been interrupted by a light knocking on my door.

"Who is it?" I asked, not moving from my position. 

"It's Allura." Her soft voice replied. "Might I have a moment?"

I sat up fully. "Come in."

The door slid open with a whoosh, and there stood Allura. She held a smile but with concern filling her eyes. She steps into my room carefully, and it's only then that I realize she's carrying a small porcelain cup with her.

"What's up?"

She offered another smile, one of care. "May I sit with you?"

I nodded and scoot slight to the left, allowing her room next to me on the edge of my bed. She sat with her knees pointed to me, and her eyes focused on the liquid in the cup.

"I just came to check on you. You left in such a hurry that we were worried." She placed a hand over mine. "Are you ok?"

I could only offer her a gentle smile and the words I knew all too well. "Yes, I'm fine." I breathed a laugh. "I know I was kind of a downer but I wasn't lying when I said that my story was a happy one. I didn't mean for it to sound so.... heartbroken."

Allura didn't look convinced. She studied my eyes like she knew something else was going on. In the heat of the awkward moment, I pointed to her glass. 

"Whatcha got there?"

"Oh, that's right... this is for you." She carefully handed me the glass. 

"For me?" I held it up to my nose, trying to regesiter what is was from the scent. It's smelt close to a scent tea would give off but with a more.... mossy... smell?

"It's a little something I brewed up for you." She grinned. "Although you suffer with alcoholic beverages, this has a lighter effect then any other you can find." She held it up closer to my lips. "It's an Altean drink we would give to those of sleepless nights and nightmares. It's soul purpose is to give user a dream that would make them the happiest." She looked down to the ground. "I was planning to save it for my worst moment, seeing as we don't have much of the needed ingredients left," her head snapped back up to me with a big smile. "But I want you to have it!"

"Allura...." of shook my head and pushed it back to her. "That's very sweet of you. But you shouldn't have, please take it!"

Her hands covered mine once again and pushed it back to me. "I don't need it, and since I already made it, it would be very rude to deny my gift... a gift from a princess none the less!" She gave a mischievous grin. "You dot want to offend me, do you Aleah?"

I still didn't feel right about this. Something as remarkable as this, if it does what she says, and she's giving it to me? "A-Are you sure?"

She shook her head again. "Please! I insist. Drink it!" She chanted as she slightly jumped in her seat. I giggled and raised it in a cheers motion. "Drink it fast!" She giggled.

I giggled too and quickly downed the drink. It wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't good. It's tasted... bland... like tea... was that tea? Is that Altean tea?

I handed her back the cup "Wow, that was bland."

She shrugged. "Yeah well, it's not the best, but the effects are worth it." She stood up and waved to me. "You'll start to feel drowsy very soon, so I'd get comfortable if I were you. Goodnight, Aleah! I'll see you in the morning!"

I didn't even have time to thank her, I was already passing out.

\--------------------------

-Shiro-

I marched to Aleah's room quickly before I could change my mind. She was going to talk to me, whether she wanted to or not. Trish brought up some things that really started to concern me and I was going to help her.

When her door came into sight, I started second guessing myself.

She'll just get upset, I can't force her to let me in, she won't want to talk to me, things are too awkward, is this really my place?

My fast pace was brought to a halt when Allura carefully stepped out and hushed me.

"What are you doing?" I whispered.

The door closed fully behind her and she winked. "Helping her sleep."

She stepped passed me with a hop in her steps.

"Allura, what did you do?" 

"Nothing~!" She sang.

\------------------------------

-Aleah-

I was home. My home in South Korea. More specifically, I was walking around Seoul. The busy streets of thousands of passersby, buzzing and chatting into a blob of noise.

How did I get here?

I looked down, I was wearing my clothes.... my clothes. A white sleeves crop top, with black waist high shorts and a long red and blue flannel over it. I even had my black thigh high black socks with red converse that I over used in all my outfits.

Why was I just standing here? The sidewalks of the city were crowded with people, yet they all parted around me, not even their clothes ghost against me...

"Babe!"

A voice rang clear through the crowd and why did I feel like they were calling me?

I looked around. Everyone just kept walking, no one even spared me a glance.

"Babe!" The voice called out again.

The passing people started to speed by in a blur, I couldn't make out anyone's faces anymore.

"Babe!" The voice was right behind me. The speaker grabbed my hand and pulled me towards them. I spun around and was faced with Shiro. "I was looking all over for you!" He chuckled.

He was wearing clothes I've never seen him in. Black skinny jeans with ankle high shoes and big straps over the laces. A very casual baggy white shirt underneath what must have been a black hoodie inside a leather jacket. It felt so warm out, why was he wearing this?

He slightly ducked, making us eye level. "Did you hear me?" His soft smile pulling me into a sense of familiar ease.

"Yeah," I replied. "You want to go try some samgyeopsal?"

His smile broadened. "When in Rome right?"

I shook my head and grabbed his hand. "Come on, I'll show you the best place for samgyeopsal!"

I pulled him along. He stayed close by me until eventually I slowed my pace to walk besides him.

That's right, we're on vacation. He wanted to know what Korea was like, so I took him there.

How long have we been dating at this point? It felt like more than a year. Yes, a year. We're celebrating our anniversary in Korea. How could I have forgotten?

Wait... where are we?

Black, white, blue.... I'm in space. I'm surrounded by stars zooming past me. Or am I the one moving?

"Beautiful isn't it?" His voice again. Looking around, I was in the black lion. He was piloting and I had my arms draped over the chair, around his neck. He was in his normal clothes again. I was standing behind him.

He pointed straight ahead. When did we get here?! A beautiful white and purple galaxy swirled slowly in front of us. When did we stop moving?

I leaned closer to him. "It's beautiful, Shiro." I placed a light kiss on his temple.

"Come here." He spoke with a soft welcoming voice.

Without hestitation, I walked around his seat and straddled his lap. "Now there's a beautiful view." He growled, resting his head in the crook of my neck, taking on my scent.

I giggled.... and then I moaned. My eyes shut by themselves.

"Shiro..." I moaned again.

"Mmmm... yeah baby?" His voice sounded so raspy and out of breath. "Do you like that?"

My eyes shot open. I was still straddling him, but we were in my bedroom on the ship. He sat on the edge of my bed, his hands strongly gripped my naked sides as I still straddled him, moving up and down, front and back.

"Yes," I moaned, throwing my head back. "Yes baby, give it to me."

Our moans faded and faded into non existence....

White... all white...

I kept walking and walking, nothing. 

"He's waiting." A new voice called from behind me. I spun around quickly and the scenery changed.

"Do you like it?" Shiro's voice spoke from behind.

Space again. It was a purpleish planet, trees with purple bark green leaves surrounded a wide open meadow with grass, a strange shade of blue, and flowers that I have never seen before.

Shiro stepped around me and grabbed both of my hands.

"I love it." I giggled.

He gently smiled. "Good." He walked backwards, pulling me with him. The angle moved and we were lying on the ground. We were both sprawled parallel to each other side by side. Only our hand were entangled above our heads. I rolled over to face him, which he shortly followed.

"How are you?" He asked seriously, with a smile on his face.

"Happy." I sighed.

His eyes drooped down to my lips. He bit his lower lip and leaned in. When our lips made contact, I closed my eyes to feel the full sensation.

My body jolted up. My first instinct was to look besides me for Shiro... no one... it was a dream... it was all a dream.

"Oh god..." I fully sat up, hands covering my mouth. "It was a dream.... It was a dream!" I started hyperventilating.

I couldn't stop the tears that shed. Allura said that tea would give me my happiest dreams, and I dreamt of Shiro...

I tried to think hard. Was I sure it was Shiro? Maybe it was Dwight and I'm over thinking it?

No, I was lying to myself. I dreamt of Shiro.... such romantic and explicit dreams I was given, and it was with Shiro.

I crashed onto the floor. This wasn't right. This was a mistake. This couldn't be!.... but it was.

In my happiest dream, I was with Shiro, and not my Dwight.

.................................

-a week and a half later-

-Shiro-

"Have you guys seen Aleah lately?" I asked the team during training.

Lance let his arms fall from his battle stance to look in my direction.

"Yeah, last night." He answered. "Me, her, and Trish were hanging out listening to some tunes."

"Yeah same," Hunk answered, nearly missing a droids attack. "Yesterday morning, I made breakfast with her.... she's so fun to cook with!" His eyes watered.

"Why are you asking?" Kieth asked, kicking a dead droid out of his path.

"Because," I grunted as I jumped out of the way of a laser bullet. "I haven't seen her at all since the campfire. Thought she might be keeping to herself again."

"Nope," Pidge jumped over a bot, bringing it down with her. "She's been helping me with some of my lion's alterations for the past few afternoons."

"And I've been sparring with her and Trish almost everyday." Kieth added.

"You haven't seen her at all?" Pidge asked.

"Not really... no." I grumbled, attack another robot head on.

.............................

Damn it, she did it again...

A few days later, I eventually had a few run in with Aleah. Since I now knew her day schedule with the team, I was able to pretty much pinpoint her location for certain times a day.

At first it was in the kitchen with Hunk. I came in one morning to greet the two chefs and ask them what's for breakfast. While Hunk was telling me in detail, Aleah simply removed her soon and excused herself for the next part of her day.

The next day I saw her in the sitting room with Lance and Trish and thought I'd join them, to which she responded with needing a shower and left.

Then later that day, she was training with Kieth. She didn't leave that time, but she just raised the difficulty setting and kept training!

It was at that point that I was starting to notice she must be trying to avoid me.

The last straw was with Pidge. I purposely stayed up a little later than the paladin's curfew just to locate the two tech savvy people, just for her to blow off immediately!

"Hey Pidge, I better get going." She lightly nudged him a minute after my arrival. "It's getting late, we should get some sleep."

Pidge checked her watch. "Geez is that the time already? Sorry Shiro, I missed curfew."

I waved him off. "It's fine, at least you were doing something productive."

Pidge smiled and gathered all his things. Aleah was about to leave until I called out for her.

"Aleah," I used my authoritative voice. "A word?"

She stepped back and turned to me with a reluctant smile. "I.... I'm really tired I should go to bed."

Pidge slowly walked around us with his things.

"It will only be a minute." I stood my ground.

Aleah looked to Pidge who just shrugged and said goodnight, leaving the door shut behind him.

Aleah looked back at me awkwardly. "So..." she chuckles nervously, "what's up?"

I cross my arms. "You've been avoiding me."

Her eyes widened. "Whaaaat? Noooo, I've just..."

"Been leaving rooms shortly after I enter or just completely ignoring me?" I looked at her annoyed. "You're not even keeping eye contact with me now!"

She looked up at me for a minute before moving her glance. "I never keep eye contact, that's weird."

I sighed. "Aleah just cut the crap and tell me what's going on."

"Nothing!" She played with the wrench on a table near her. "I've just been very busy... doing things."

I took a step closer to her. "Did I do something to upset or offend you?"

She took a step back. "No..."

So I did do something.

"..... can I know what I did?"

"Shiro, it's nothing!" She snapped. "Okay?! It's nothing, just let it go!"

"Really? Because you're getting a little hyped up for nothing."

"I said it's NOTHING" she slammed the wrench back down on the table. "... so just leave me alone!" She groaned. She turned around to leave. I stepped closer to her and grabbed her wrist.

"Aleah, no. I want to talk about this!"

"Get off!" She spun her wrist around in attempts to free herself. My grip just tightened, keeping her in place.

"Not until you tell me what I did to make you avoid me like this!"

"I'M NOT AVOIDING YOU!" She shot at me.

"Bullshit!" I shot back.

"Why do you even care this much? It's not like we're dating or anything!"

There it was.

My grasp slipped from around her wrist. "Is that what this is about? You're still mad about the other day aren't you?! You told me it was fine-"

"ITS NOT BECAUSE OF THAT!" She cut me off. "JUST. DROP IT. SHIRO!"

She tried to walk off again but I grabbed her for the second time and shoved her against the wall, holding her in place.

"Not until we get whatever this is sorted out!"

She tried to push me off her to which I just grabbed both her wrist and held them against the wall.

She tried to struggle in my grips but I was a lot stronger than her. She eventually gave up with a growl and screamed at me.

"STOP DOING THIS TO ME!"

"DOING WHAT?!"

"Making me so god damn FUCKING VULNERABLE AROUND YOU!"

"...." I was taken aback. "What are you talking about?"

She threw her arms down, freeing herself. "Every time I think I am done with this, you have to go and put me in positions like that and make me second guess myself!"

I backed up to give her some space. I wasn't able to form words because I still didn't understand what she meant.

Her hands were shaking and she had tears threatening to fall. "You want to know why I can't stand being around you?!" She firmly held her ground, looking me dead in the eyes. "After the campfire, Allura gave me something to help me sleep. Something that was suppose to give me my happiest dreams, something that was suppose to give me Dwight! But no! It gave me you!"

My mouth fell agape.

She continued, speaking quickly with tears spilling. "I was suppose to dream about being with my husband again, the love of my life! I was supposed to dream about meeting him, going out with him, getting engaged, getting married! But NO!" She stepped closer to me. "You know what I get?! I get dreams of you and me on vacation in Korea! Flying around space together! Having sex! Discovering new planets! Things I'm suppose to be doing with Dwight. Not! You!"

My overall shock was over come with anger. "Oh ok, so you're mad at me because your perfect dream included me? HOW IS THAT MY FAULT?!"

"BECAUSE EVERY TIME I THINK IM OVER YOU, YOU FUCKING SO MUCH AS BREATH AND IM SECOND GUESSING MYSELF!"

Is this was the universe's idea of a confession, the universe has a sick sense of humor.

"So wait, lets pretend that it wasn't me in your dream, let's pretend it was LITERALLY anyone else! You're mad at me... because you were happy?!" I stepped closer to her. "Do you know how fucking ridiculous that sounds?!"

"I don't need anyone else to be happy! I was happy once and that was with Dwight! HE WAS THE ONLY THING THAT MADE ME HAPPY!"

"HES DEAD, ALEAH." I yelled at her.

"DONT YOU THINK I KNOW THAT!" She screamed.

I didn't responded. The weight of my words setting in, and I instantly regretted them.

"HE WAS THE GREATEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO ME AND HES GONE! I LOVE HIM, ILL ALWAYS LOVE HIM! I CANT FEEL THAT WAY ABOUT ANYONE ELSE, I CANT MOVE ON, I CANT BE HAPPY!... he was everything to me, and he's gone now... and now I feel like I've cheated on him by dreaming of another man..." her tears began falling again. She leaned back against the wall and slid down to the floor.

"Aleah..." I sighed, joining her on the floor. "You can't go on like this... you can't keep lingering on the past, he wouldn't have wanted this."

"Oh, how would you know!" She sobbed. "You didn't know him like I did!"

I offered her a small smile. "No, I guess I didn't... but I knew how much he cared about you..."

She looked up at me with curiosity through her thick stacks of hair.

I chuckled. "You should have seen him rave off about you to the guys in the men's dorms back at the garrison... he would always have this big player smile as he would tell the guys about how much he was into you, how much he cared for you, and even though the guys always teased him for it, he would always openly talk about how much he loved you."

She broke into another fit of sobs. I scoot a little closer to her and carefully tried to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. When she didn't jerk away from me, I used my thumb to caress her skin.

"You can't honestly tell me that that is the kind of man who wouldn't want you to be happy with or without him. He would want you to try to find love again, be with someone who makes you just as happy as you made him, someone who can protect you and you can protect them through and through."

I removed my hand from her to try to face her a little better.

"I'm saying this, not because of your dream, it could have been anyone else and I'd still tell you this, but you can't keep yourself from being happy. You can't keep sabotaging yourself to keep you alone and in pain... everyone is worried about you. Trish is worried about you..." I sighed, choosing my words carefully. "She told me that you still haven't talked to anyone about what happened... Aleah you can't keep that kind of stuff to yourself, it will destroy you!"

She was still sobbing to herself, showing no signs of giving a reply.

I sighed again. "Look, I'm not saying you have to go to me, but please try to find comfort with someone enough to talk this through. We're all scared for you. All of us. You'll have these moments where you're having fun and running around, but once something triggers something, you become a shun out. You completely remove yourself from everyone and stay locked up in your room for days."

At this point I was sitting right next to her. "It's ok to be sad once In a while, but you can't let it control you."

"And just what would you suggest I say, Shiro?" She shot at me. "Where would I even begin for something like that?!"

I smiled at her. "From the beginning would be a start."

She quietly played with her hands, thinking something over in her head carefully. I would give her all the time she needed, I was willing to be as patient as she needed me too.

"There's not much to say but, we found a planet said to be deserted of all animal life and..." she carried on. Piece by piece she told me the tragic story of how she lost the people she cared the most about.

She told me about the nightmares she had where their decaying corpses point at her and blame her, confirming her fears. The nightmares where the parasite followed her and infected her or her new friends in the castle.

She even admitted to all of her weakest points... the moments she considered launching herself out the airlock bay without a suit, running away, or when she wanted to pick up drinking again... 

She final let it all out. As her head now rested on my shoulder, she even began to mention the moments where the team helped her out of it.

Lance was always willing to offer a laugh or two for her, Pidge offered understanding and logic, Hunk offered sentiment and a big hug, Kieth offered a more grounded outlook, Allura was always so optimistic for her, and Coran, she said, was just an all out joy to be around.

"Feel better?" I asked her.

She sat straight up and wipes her eyes of the long dried tears. "....shut up..."

I laughed at her stubbornness and took a look at the time. Hours have gone by. It would have been a likeness of 4 am. 

We both stood up and dusted ourselves off.

"I'm sorry for talking for so long... and yelling at you."

"Don't be. I'm glad to be there for you."

Tension leaked into the air. Memories of her precious concession came to mind. Although it wasn't really ideal, and would most likely not work in my favor, now would be a good time.

"Aleah," I sighed. "I just want you to know, I do care for you... a lot. Like... a lot a lot." I rubbed the back of my neck like an idiot.

She smiled sweetly. "I know Shiro, I do to, if I'm being honest. But," there it was. "But I'm sorry. You're right, I need to try to find happiness again, but I can never be with someone the way I was with Dwight... You're the sweetest most caring guy in this universe.... but I just.... can't."

"It's fine." I smiled back to her. "I get it."

"Thank you." She said so quietly, I had to read her lips more than anything. "We should probably get to bed though."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'll let you go first. Just," I stopped her. "Really quick, even if it's not with me, I hope you will eventually give it all a second chance. Relationship stuff I mean." I chuckled at my awkward wording.

"Thanks Shiro." She smirked. "No promises though." She started to head for the door again.

"Wait, one more thing." I stopped her again. She rolled her eyes and smiled at me. I smiled back. "I'm glad you kept your hair down, the curls really suit you."

A flush pink crept onto her face. She took a step towards me and placed a light kiss on my cheek. "Goodnight, Shiro."

And with that, she left the Pidge's tech room, leaving me alone with my thoughts and my pounding heart.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

-Lance-

"Seems like Aleah and Shiro are talking again." I casually pointed out to Trish.

Trish drank some of her water while poking at the goop on her plate. "Yeah, what about it?"

I shrugged. "They weren't talking for a while... what was up with that anyway?"

She rolled her eyes. "Nothing, they were just both being dumb... again."

"About what?" I looked up from my food.

Her eyes looked up at me. "What do you think?"

It was my turn to roll my eyes. "What is up with them? They both obviously like eachother!"

"I told you what their deal is. Aleah isn't ready to move on so Shiro is giving her some space."

A thought crossed my mind making an evil smile curl onto my face.

"What?" She asked, discarding the fork in her hand on her plate. A similar evil smile grew on her too. "What are you thinking of?"

"What if..." I looked around the room, checking for any listeners. "What if we were to get involved?"

She raised and eyebrow. "Involved how?"

"Like, I'll do some harmless flirting with Aleah in front of Shiro, you point out how sexy Shiro is in front of Aleah and we'll see how it goes."

She had picked her fork back up and continued eating. "Well, it's not a bad idea." She giggled. "You should have seen her get all flustered when I was talking about how much weight his arms could hold... like against a wall for instance." We chuckled impishly.

Taking another bite out of her food, Trish pointed her fork at me. "They need to just bang and get it over with."

I nod in agreement. "Here, here."

\---------------------

-Aleah-

Shiro, Trish, Kieth, Lance, and I were all in the kitchen. Sitting around the island in their, we all just had our small conversations with eating out like snacks.

In my peripheral vision, I saw Lance break from his conversation with Trish to walk over to the fridge just to stub his toe on the counter.

A long line of Spanish swears left his mouth and he hopped on one foot holding his other.

Me and Kieth both looked at him shocked.

"What?" He asked once he calmed down.

Trish and I swooned at the same time. "Holy shit, Lance that was hot as fuck!" I laughed. "You must have all the men and women in Cuba at your feet!"

He raised an eyebrow and smoothly slid next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Well mamacita, let's just say," he looked at me with a flirty look. "No woman can handle the charm that is Lance McClain."

"Oh my god," I giggled.

"Are you a magician? Because whenever I look at you, everyone else disappears!" He growled, I burst into laughter. He continued.

"Are you a camera? Because every time I look at you, I smile. Do you have a Band-Aid? Because I just scraped my knee falling for you. Are you a parking ticket? 'Cause you've got fine written all over you."

I was having a hard time breathing during my fit of laughter, "Lance! STOP!" I heaved. "You're killing me!"

He just grinned wider. "Do you know what my shirt is made of?.... Boyfriend material."

-Lance-

Oh yeah, this was working. The look on Shiro's face in the corner of my eye was priceless. If he had laser vision, he'd be burning a hole in my head.

My last line got his attention the most though. "Lance." He voiced a warning to me.

I looked up to him with a smirk. "Wait one more!" I looked back at her. "There must be a lightswitch on my forehead because everytime I see you, you turn me on!"

Shiro stood up quickly making me flinch. "Ok bye!" I chuckled running out of the room.

-Trish-

Holy shit. That was great.

Aleah was still recovering from her laughing fit. I wasn't even sure if she saw what Shiro did or even had a clue that Lance left.

"Oh my god my face hurts." She wiped a tear from her eye.

"Why do you encourage him?" Kieth grumbled.

"What do you mean?" She asked, smile still on her face.

"That dumb behavior of his!" He pointed out the door Lance walked out of. "It's insanely disrespectful and not to mention annoying as hell."

"Kieth are you jealous?" I asked.

His face burned a light red. "What of him? No! It's nothing like that!"

She giggled. Oh shit she was going in.

"Not of Lance," Aleah added. "Of me."

She did it.

"What?! No! Why would I? He's an idiot with no self control! Why would I...! Why would anyone...?! No, you know what, I'm not doing this." He started to stomp towards the door. "I'm not having this conversation because it's dumb and so are you!" He point at us and stomped out the kitchen.

"Well that was intense." Aleah giggled.

Shiro sighed. "Why must you girls constantly antagonize my team?"

"Oh come on!" Aleah giggled. "You must be seeing it too at this point!"

He rubbed the back of his neck again and stood up.

"Yeah not having this conversation either..." he started heading toward the door. "I'm going to get the training room ready, are you ladies joining us today?"

"Sure!" "No thanks."

Aleah looked at me confused.

"The third power generator?" I reminded her.

Her eyes widened. "SHIT!" She jumped up. "THATS DUE TO KICK ON ANY MINUTE GOD DAMN IT TRISH! IF IT OVER HEATS IM MAKING YOU DEAL WITH IT!"

Her and I raced passed Shiro towards the bottom of the ship.

\-------------------------

"Can I just say, that has to be my favorite shirt Shiro owns?" I giggled. 

"Don't, Trish." Aleah warned me from under the generator. "3/8 wrench please."

I handed it off to her, taking a sip of my water.

"I'm just saying, you know how I feel about muscles, and every single one of his was molded in that thing."

She sighed. "That's nice, Trish."

I gasped. "Oh god, I bet he sleeps shirtless!"

"All guys do, girls do it too. You sleep shirtless." She pointed out.

I rolled my eyes. I'd have to turn up the temperate a bit to get her hot and bothered.

I moaned. "Oh god I bet he has a v line too... oh god that's hot... imagine seeing that pounding into-"

She rolled out from under the generator with a very annoyed look.

"Are you about done?!" She had a very obvious blush on her face.

My eyes widened. "Oh shit, sorry. I forgot... it's just... oh god he's so hot!" I moaned again, throwing my head back.

She rolled her eyes and slid back under the generator. "You fucking horn dog." She mumbled in Korean.

Silence washed over, the only words were demands from her on which tool to pass her. I then smirked to myself.

"Here we are, all alone in this room" I hummed/sang quietly to myself. "And girl I know,  
Where to start and what we're gonna do."

"Stop." She used a warning tone again.

"No, I love Chris Brown." I stated before continuing and skipping to the chorus. "Let me take you down  
I really wanna take you down  
And show you what I'm about  
Can I take you now,"

The loud cluttering of her wrench being thrown down cut me off. She violently rolled out from under the generator and stomped away.

"Generator is done."

I smirked watching her flustered form run out.

\----------------------

-Aleah-

It was later in the day and I decided to spend the rest of it in my room, thinking.

A soft knock was placed at my door and I responded with a distracted "Come in."

My glance greeting the person at the door, I sat up and smiled.

"Hey, Kieth. Whatcha need?"

He looked a little off. He was avoiding eye contact with me and had a look of being at war with himself.

"Can... can I talk to you for a minute?" His voice was low.

The smile from my face faded. "Of course. Come in, sit down." I motioned him further into the room.

"Is everything ok?" I asked, watching him cross the room to the bunk across from mine.

His fingers curled under the edge of the bunk as his eyes still refused to make eye contact with me.

"I wanted to apologize for how I acted this morning." He mumbled.

A confused look crossed my face when I didn't instantly remember what he was talking about. A quick memory of our teasing came back to mind.

"Oh!" I drew out. "You don't have to apologize! Me and Trish were being a little mean this morning, you don't have to worry about it! It's fine." I offered him my most sincere smile. One that did not last, because even after his apology, he still looked like he had more to say.

I sighed and walked over to his side of the room. Sitting carefully right next to him, offering him some space.

"That's not all... is it?"

"What would happen," he suddenly added. "If there was someone you knew very well, if they were to suddenly reveal a huge secret?... one that would change how everyone sees them?"

I took a long breath between my teeth. "Well, that depends. That's a very wide scenario. If this secret were that this "someone" were a serial killer, than obviously that's one thing, or if it's just that they're gay then it's not really a big deal."

I could see Kieth's jaw visibly clench. "How is that not a big deal?!" He snapped. "Something like that would be a HUGE deal back on Earth! People loose friends, even family over that kind of thing!" He looked back to me. "How would something like that not be a-.... what?"

He was thrown off guard when he noticed I was still smiling. I gently grabbed his hand, lacing my fingers with his.

"Well Kieth. Things have changed a lot. Even when I left Earth, love and acceptance was spreading country to country." I tugged his hand when I noticed his attention drifting. "I know you've told me how you've been alone all you're life, but trust me when I say that no one cares anymore. It doesn't define you as a person and people are more focused on your actions." I nudged his shoulder. "Besides, if this "someone" were to tell their friends, I know for. a. fact. that their friends would still love and accept them as they are."

His expression softened as he continued to stare at that ground. I felt myself smile again.

"Now, what were you wanting to tell me?"

He looked at me with a look of confusion. He must have been wondering if I had been listening at all, but the smile on my face brought one to his.

He used our clasped hands to pull me into a hug.

"You're the best, Aleah."

"I know." I softly pat his back.

Another knock pulled our attention.

"Who is it?" I called out.

"It's me." Shiros voice called out.

I pull away from Kieth slightly, our bodies still pointing towards eachother. "Come in."

The door slid open, and Shiro walked in slowly. "Hey I just wanted to- oh...hey Kieth...." he looked back to me with confusion. "Everything ok?"

I looked to Kieth with a smile and he smiled back. He stood up quickly and faced Shiro. I quickly grabbed his hand.

"Kieth, are you sure you're ready for this? No one is forcing you if you don't want to."

He responded with a small smile and turned back to Shiro.

"Shiro, there is something you should know. I know you want me to lead Voltron should anything happen to you, but it's because of that that I think you should know."

His breath hitched. He was going to try to shove the words out. Shiro gave him his full attention and waited patiently.

"I'm gay." He spoke quick and clearly.

Shiros eyebrows went up with a look of surprise. His mouth fell open and closed. I, still holding Kieth's hand, could feel him tightly squeeze my hand in anticipation.

"Congratu...lations?" He sputtered. "I'm sorry, I don't know how to respond to that." He chuckled nervously before clearing his throat. "Don't get me wrong, I'm honored you wanted to tell me, but I fail to see how this would change things about you leading Voltron."

Kieth's grip loosened on my hand with a look of shock while a big smile broke out on my face. I stood up next to him.

"See, I told you." I pulled him into a big hug. "Ugh, you boys make me so proud everyday." I said in a joking mother tone before pulling back. "Feel better? That's what I thought. Now run off to bed young man!"

I followed Kieth to the door, walking past Shiro.

"Thank you." Kieth mouthed to me before walking back to his room with a big smile.

I shut the door behind him and turned to Shiro with a hand over my heart.

"Makes a mother proud."

I got distracted by the look of adoration on Shiro's face.

I giggled. "What?"

"Nothing...." he shrugged. "It's just that, you really are space mom aren't you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever, I'm just doing what any friend would do."

He shrugged again. "Oh yeah, like singing to them, separating fights holding their hands, hugging them, letting them come to you with their problems... total friends."

I lightly smacked his arm as I walked past him further into my room. "Anyway," I turned back around. "What did you need?"

"Oh right. I just came by to check in for curfew." He half smiled.

I raised an eyebrow. "Curfew?" He nodded. "Since when am I involved in the paladin's curfew?"

"Since I saw a very distraught Kieth walk into your room." He answered nonchalantly.

"Ahh.." I giggled. "I see. You wanted to check up on your team mate."

He shrugged. "What kind of team leader would I be if I let my Paladins walk around all depressed looking?"

I smiled gently at him. "Not a very good one." I spoke softly.

We held eye contact for a few seconds before Shiro started to awkwardly eye around the room. His glance fell onto something and he pointed to my night stand.

"What's that?"

I followed his attention to a rock about the size of two of my fists put together that sat lazily on my night stand.

"Oh that?" I grinned, picking it up and admiring it again. "That's my engagement ring." I giggled.

He eyebrow arched. "I don't follow."

I carefully handed it to him for him to look at himself.

"When Dwight proposed, we didn't really have access to golden ring bands so he just.... gave me a rock." I chuckled. "Stupid right? Well he always promised that he would get me a real one when we returned to Earth, so for the time being, that would have to do." I continued to grin at the memory.

Shiro's hands stopped exploring the object as guilt veiled his face. "I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "Don't be! I'm not sad at all right now! I'm honestly still under an adrenaline rush from my little heart to heart with Kieth." I tried to lighten the mood.

"Oh, of course." He chuckled and handed the precious rock back to me. "I guess I'll let you sleep then."

"Oh yeah, for my curfew." I joked, following him to the door.

He stepped out and smiled. "Exactly. Goodnight, Aleah."

"Goodnight, Shiro." I smiled, shutting the door behind him.

My heart felt like it was stretching.

Just ignore it. Don't think about it. Just go to sleep.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

-Aleah-

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" Hunk asked me for the third time.

I shook my head. "No, Hunk. I'll be fine. You kids have fun!"

"Why aren't you coming?" Pidge asked.

"I have a lot of work to do here. Although I would have liked it if I could have the extra help!" I yelled around them to a jumping Trish who just smiled and waved. "Oh well, you guys have fun at the space mall!"

Hunk pulled me into a big hug. "I'll find you something to bring back! It sucks you can't go with us, we would have so much fun trying on space clothes!"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh yeah, I can see all the multi-limbed dresses now!" I giggled. "You can bring me back some space take out."

Hunk winked at me. "I'll get you a space doggy bag."

I winked back. "Thanks."

"Alright, everyone whose going, climb aboard!" Coran shouted. "Now, I believe we should be better with out our disguises this time but just in case..."

"Hey," a light tap on the back of my arm pulled my attention to Shiro as Coran went on in the background. "Are you going to be ok?"

I sighed. "You the second person to ask that, yet that's the fourth time I've heard it."

He smirked. "Alright, I'm just making sure. You're going to be all alone on the ship, and things can get pretty spooky in space."

Use my evil smirk and high eyebrows, I responded smoothly with "I can handle spooky. I like spooky."

He chuckled. "Alright. But if you need us, you know how to use the control room panel."

"Yep, and dinner is in the fridge and lights out by nine. Thanks dad."

He chuckled once more. "Yeah you'll be fine. See ya later."

I waved to him as he and the other Paladins and Coran and Allura climbed into the transportation pod and shipped off.

Time to get to work.

\-------------------------

-An hour later-

I was working on salvaging more parts from my old ship when I heard a door swing open in the hanger room of the ship.

That was quicker than I thought.

I stood up and dust myself off before sprinting out of the ship and back into the hanger to greet my friends.

"Hey you guys are back ear-"

Oh shit. Galra. I know thoes uniforms anywhere! How did they get in the castle?

They turned to me and pointed their guns.

"HANDS UP WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!" One of them shouted. 

Using some quick thinking, I picked up one of the extra glass windows I extracted off the ship and used it as a shield. Almost instantly they started firing.

I needed to get help. I needed to get the Paladins back here. I needed to defend myself!

..... wait! My staff! I was doing alterations on it last night in my room! Now would be a good time as ever to test it, and the control room is clear across the ship.

I kicked a rolling shelf of tools into the small fleet and used the distraction to run backwards into another hallway.

I locked the door as quickly as I could behind me and kept running. I wasn't too far from my room, I should be their any-

BOOM!

A loud crash blew behind me. They destroyed the door, and were catching up.

COME ON, KEEP RUNNING. JUST ONE MORE TURN AND.... THERE!

I quickly ducked into my room and once again locked the door behind me knowing I didn't have long before they blew that one up.

"OPEN THIS DOOR OR BE BLOWN OUT!" A voiced boomed on the other side.

Shit! Think think think think think!..... THERE!

The vent in my room! I grabbed my staff off my bed and used it to link in between two pipes on the ceiling to hoist myself up.

It wasn't but a second later that I saw bullets fly through my room, making my door look like swish cheese.

Wasting no time I crawled to the fork in the vent that opened right out side my door. A surprise attack would be perfect right now!

I crashed threw the opening feet first and landed a kick to the back of the Galra soldier standing outside my room with his gun pointing in. I delivered a quick kick to his head, masterfully catching his flying gun in the air and released a shower of bullets into the soldiers inspecting my room before sending a bullet threw the head of the soldier on the ground.

"What was that?" "It came from this way!"

More voices were heard from the end of the hall. I holstered the small gun in my pocket and once again used my staff to hoist myself back into the vent.

\--------------------

The vent proved to be a very efficient way to get around the ship and a good sniping point to take out any wandering Galra. As I was about to take out another two of the purple scum, something from their conversation caught my attention.

"Where did the sarge say he was going? We have a paladin on the loose and we need all the help we can get up here!"

"He's heading to retrieve the lions. He was able to locate their docking bay and said something about the guards being down."

Shit! The guards were down?!... I need to contact Shiro and the guys!.... but if the control room is still a whole floor away while the lions should be one vent shoot down.... get help or save the lions,,. Get help or save the lions.....

"GOD DAMNIT!" I screamed to myself.

The guards spun around and looked up to me in the vent. Before they were able to reach for their guns, I sent two bullets flying into their skulls.

I continued my crawl straight in the vent until I came across the shoot down. I slide down quickly, begging I was right about where this was heading.

The end, I saw the bottom of the vent approaching quickly and I just as quickly went crashing through it.

"FUCK!" I yelled. I did land in the docking room, but I crashed through the ceiling which was hundreds of feet from the ground.

Using some quick thinking, I aimed my staff at the wall nearest me and fired the blaster from it into the stone wall, sending me flying sideways at a downwards plane. The force from the blast definitely dislocated my shoulder and I definitely felt it as I finally hit the ground in a fast roll sideways. I only stopped when my back hit the strong metal double doors that lead into the room.

Using this moment to catch my breath, I stood up as quickly as I could and set off the lockdown access code in the panel next to the door. All doors, windows, and walls were slammed down into strong metal slabs.

Silence. I tried to stand fully at this point, but could only stand with a slouched figure and my hand gripping my now limp arm by the forearm. My nerves were screaming with pain. I looked around. No one.

Now all I had to do was find a way to contact the Paladins or be forced to wait it out.

I let out a sigh of relief.

"Well done." A dark voice growled from the shadows.

Out from behind the green lion, walked out a tall, heavy built Galra man with a look of evil and amusement.

"I must say... when I saw you fall through the ceiling, I thought you'd surely be a goner. Quick thinking."

"I've already sent word to the Paladins!" I yelled out in huffs of breath. "They'll be here any minute! So if I were you, I'd hurry up and book it before the real ass kickers get here!"

"Ah, so you were the one taking out my fleet... all by yourself? Impressive.... if you weren't going to die, I'd invite you to the Galra army... too bad."

I breathed a laugh. "Like I would anyway."

He shrugged and pulled up his gun. "Oh well, missed opportunity... we could use a strong, quick thinking head like yours..." he chuckled. "You know what? To hell with it. You lift these defenses and swear allegiance to Zarkon and the Galra army, and I'll see to it that you are patched up and given a high rank... a luxurious life it is really, being a Sargent."

"Oh yeah? I would get a luxurious stick up my ass like you too?" I hissed out in pain from my little movement of my shoulder. "I'm going to have to turn down that offer. I got a nice thing going here. And you'll agree when the Paladins come here and release a can of whoops ass on your-"

A gun fire, and a blazing hot pain surging through my already destroyed arm. I screamed in pain and fell to my knees.

"You and I both know the Paladins aren't coming. It's just you and me in this room, and I'm offering you an excellent deal. By turning it down, you are sealing your fate." He stepped closer latching a finger under my chin and making me look up to him. "What a pretty little thing you are... tell you what, you join us, and I'll take you as my wife."

BLAST

I quickly pulled out the gun on my pocket and shot him in the leg. I shakily stood back up.

"Sorry," I bit my tongue and popped my shoulder back into place. Adrenaline shot through me and I picked up my staff, twirling it before snapping it into a fighting stance. "But I'm taken."

\------------------------

-Shiro-

We were all taking a break from our shopping adventure to sit around in the food court laughing and talking.

"Hey hey!" Hunk called our attention. "Who am I?"

He placed his empty bowl over his head like a beany.

"Help Voltron!" He made in a mocking voice that sounded like Rolo. "I'm conveniently stuck here with this hot girl and our ship isn't moving. Oh lance, please take this girl so she can leave you chained to a tree!"

We all laughed except for Lance.

"Hey that's not what-!"

An echo reached my ears. A voice called out to me from what sounded like the back of my head.

I looked at the other Paladins who also held a look of shock.

"Did you hear that?" Kieth sat up.

Our lions were tying to reach us. They called out to us again, this time with clearer words.

Our blood ran cold before we rushed to our feet.

"ALEAH!"

\--------------------

-Aleah-

I launched myself at him again, landing a blow on his chest and knocking him back.

"WHY DO YOU FIGHT FOR THEM!" He screamed in pain, his blood seeping through his bullet wounds. He, like me, still stood his ground.

"THERE IS NO WAY THEY CAN STOP US, WE HAVE BEEN IN CONTROL FOR OVER 10 THOUSAND YEARS! WE HAVE MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF GALRA ON OUR SIDE WHILE YOU HAVE FIVE, WEAK, HUMAN CHILDREN. THEY ARE DESTINED TO FAIL YET YOU CONTINUE TO FIGHT! ARE YOU INSANE?! YOUR PALADINS ARENT EVEN HERE TO HELP YOU! WHY DO YOU FIGHT FOR THEM?!"

I huffed and huffed, catching my breath. "You don't think they stand a chance? Ha. If you honestly think that, then you are blind. Yes they are young, but they are experienced. Those children you speak of have not only been in and out of your bases, they have single handedly destroyed your major bases, liberated countless of your slave and resource planets, killed your high ranks, survive imprisonment, became a champion of your cruel games and STILL have time for a full nights rest... I don't know about you but that's the material of Defenders of the Universe if I've ever heard of one!"

I continued. "They are coming. And when they arrive, they will be angry. You Galra pieces of shit have always caught them on their best days, but when they get here and seen what you have done to their base? The messes you've made? What you did to their favourite mechanic?" I joked. "Oh yeah, they're going to show no mercy... there won't be a single survivor because Voltron will always be there to defend the universe! Voltron will always be there to stop scum like you and Zarkon in your very tracks. VOLTRON will see to the very destruction of your armies not because you fucked with me, but because you fucked with our planet, you fucked with our universe. YOU FUCKED WITH THE WRONG HEROES AND GOD DAMN IT..... if I die here... in this room... The the last thing I'll do is to drag you with me to the very fire pits of hell where you will burn! SO LICK THAT UP BABY!" I aimed my gun at him and fire multiple shots.

He screamed in pain when several bullets hit their mark on his body.

"YOU BITCH!" He shot back.

One shot. That's all it took.

I was on the ground, back against the metal doorway and blood pouring from my stomach.

"I'll see you there!" He screamed trying to take the last shot.

CRUNCH

The black lion's leg came crashing down over him, instantly crushing him. He was, by no doubt, dead.

Non the less I sat there, hand over my wound as I stared at his body's waiting for him to get up. When he didn't move, I looked up to the eyes of the black lion as it looked down at me from its tall stature.

"Thank you." I told it. Not knowing if it could understand me. "You saved me... at least for the time being." I tried to laugh, only to feel pain burn through my insides. "It sucks though... didn't think this is how it would end... I honestly thought I would go out by my own hand.... would've... made a better shot though... clean and quick you know? Ha... haha.... ow."

I readjusted myself against the door. The blood seeping from my would kept my back lubricated and hard to stay sitting up right.

"I meant it you know... shit I don't even know if you can understand me... I believe in the Paladins of Voltron. I do believe they can win this war... oh god this hurts!" Tears poured from my heavy eyes. I was starting to feel sleepy. The black lion lies down on its stomach to put its face closer to mine. My final moments coming, I said the only words I could think of that were worthy enough for my last words.

"Voltron.... will be... victoriou-"

\----------------------

-Shiro-

"ALEAH!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

We were back in the castle and discovered four or five enemy ships attached to the castle... why hadn't the alarms gone off?

From the second we were back aboard, our senses were flooded with the stench of death. Galra bodies were lying all around the castle. We occasionally ran into on or two of the living ones and were quick to finish them off.

"ALEAH!" Trish frantically called for her.

Every corner we turned, we were scared to find her lifeless body amongst the casualties.

"The lions!" Lance called. "They're the ones who told us! She must be near the lions!"

We sprinted off to the docks only to discover the entire hanger was on lock down.

"She has to be inside." I started banging on the door with my fists. "ALEAH OPEN UP WE'RE HERE!"

"The lockdown system makes the room practically sound proof, she can't hear us!" Allura ran to the panel. "Stand back! I'll open the security system!"

A quick run of her fingers and we could already hear the defenses rising. Finally the double doors slid open. Aleah's motionless body fell backwards at our feet.

Trish screams bloody murder. "OH GOD NO! NO NO NO!"

I was the first to my knees to try and prop her up. No this can't be happening! Not like this!

"Aleah, can you hear me?! Aleah!... ALEAH!"

"Oh fuck, no!" Lance cried. "Fuck no man. NO!" He turned around and bang the side of his fist on the wall.

I held up my robotic arm to her mouth and nose, watching as it slightly fogged the metal.

"Shes still breathing! We need to get her to a medical pod fast!" I looked up to Kieth. "Kieth, run ahead and get the pod warmed up. I'll be right behind!"

He didn't budge. He stood their with a face twisted into wide teary eyes fear with his hand covering his mouth.

"Kieth!" I yelled at him... his eyes didn't budge. "KIETH!" I yelled again. He snapped out of it and nodded mc taking off as quickly as his legs could go.

"Everyone move!" I picked her up completely.

They quickly moved aside as I took off after Kieth. I looked back down to her.

"Aleah, stay awake!" I yelled to her. "Stay awake!" I screamed frantically.

Her eyes opened a little, a good sign.

"You're going to be fine, Aleah. Just please." I could feel my tears welling up. "Just hold on s little longer."

Entering the pod room, I saw Kieth frantically typing on the keypad.

"Come on! COME ON! GOD DAMN IT WORK FASTER!"

I was out of breath and fell to my knees, still holding her bleeding form in my arms. I continued to cry out to her.

"Aleah, stay here! Stay awake! We're all here, we're here now! We're sorry we didn't get here sooner but please please hold on a little longer!" I begged.

-Aleah-

I could see again, but only a little. The room felt very bright. I looked around to the faces of all my friends. They looked hurt, scared, shocked. They stared down at me with flooded wide wides eyes, tears spilling over.

"Hey there beautiful." I heard his voice. I looked past Pidge crying into Hunks arms and saw him there. My love. He looked just as good as ever. Tight green v-neck that showed off his perfect chest. His shining ebony skin was glossier then ever and he still had his beautiful brown eyes that went so well with his devilish smile.

"Where the fuck have you been?" My hoarse voice croaked.

"Aleah, who are you talking to?" Shiros frantic voice mumbled. I could feel the rest of the world start to blur.

Dwight stepped even closer until he was kneeling on the floor across from Shiro.

"Even covered in blood do you look sexy." He joked, lightly brushing my cheek.

"You don't... so bad yourself..." I chuckled.

He stood up and held a hand out to me.

"Come on baby, we have some talking to do."

\----------------------

-Shiro-

My heart was racing, she was seeing something we can't, she was talking to no one with a weak smile on her face.

Through the loud cries of our friends, I tried to call out to her again. "Aleah, who are you talking to?!"

Her hand slowly rose up, reaching for something that wasn't there.

"It's Dwight..." her voice whispered.

"ALEAH NO!" Trish dropped to the floor next to her and grabbed her out stretched hand. "No ones there! It's just us, please don't do this to me!!" She cried harder and harder. "Don't leave me! I just got you back, you're all that I have! Please don't!

My free hand grabbed her other hand and placed a light kiss on her knuckles. The copper taste of her blood filling my senses and stung on my tastebuds.

"Plead Aleah, were not ready to let go yet! We need you here! With us! We all love you and we can't imagine living without you!" My tears were pouring into her skin as I clutched her hand to my face. "Don't go, please.... don't leave me..." my voices whimpered the last part to her.

Her grip was weakening. We were loosing her faster and faster.

"SHIRO! ITS READY!" Kieth called out to me. My head snapped back up.

"LANCE! Help me get her in!"

Lance jumped into action and help me strap her into the chamber. The door slid shut and we all stepped back.

"Wh-what happens now?" Pidge's weak voice asked what we were all thinking.

"We must wait... the machine has frozen her state and will survey of its possible to...." she couldn't finish her sentence. "We wait..."

No one left the room, every one stayed within sight of her now sleeping form. She was badly beaten. Her shoulder was covered in a blue and purple bruise, he face was bloodied and beaten and her stomach.... that was the worst part... from her breast down, was completely covered in blood. They blue and tan fabric of her shirt and pants were dyed a strong blackish red.

"Pidge." My gruff voice cut the silence. "What. Happened." I spoke through my clenched teeth.

Pidge, who was already surveying the security tapes, remained silent for a moment.

"She fought an entire Galra fleet on her own... but what happened in the lion's hanger, I don't know... the lock down must have caused a power shortage on the cameras."

"What do you mean she took down an entire fleet?" Hunk wiped his tears.

"WHO CARES WHAT PIDGE MEANS!" Kieth's voice erupted. "WHILE WE WERE OF HAVING A GREAT TIME, OUR FRIEND WAS UP HERE DEFENDING THE CASTLE ON HER OWN! BECAUSE OF US SHE MIGHT DIE!"

"Kieth please..." Coran tried to calm him down with a hand on his shoulder. Kieth smacked it away. "DONT TOUCH ME! ALEAH WAS THE CLOSEST THING TO A MOTHER THAT I EVER HAD! I CAME OUT TO HER FIRST AND SHE ACCEPTED ME WITH LOVE AND OPEN ARMS! AND HOW DO I PAY HER BACK?! BY LEAVING HER TO FEND FOR HERSELF WHEN SHE NEEDED SOMEONE THE MOST!"

The room was quiet as Kieth just right came out to the whole team unintentionally.

"Oh yeah, poor you." Lance stood up. "YOURE NOT THE ONLY ONE HURT HERE KIETH! WE ALL LOST SOMETHING! SHE WAS THEIR FOR ME WHEN I NEEDED TO CRY OR WHEN I MISS HOME! SHE SANG TO ME WHENEVER I NEEDED HER TO, NO. QUESTIONS. ASKED. SHE MEANT SOMETHING TO ALL OF US!"

Pidge stood up, knocking over his computer. "WOULD YOU TWO SHUT UP! YOU DONT KNOW IF SHES DEAD! SHE COULD BE FINE! BUT HERE YOU TWO ARE, BICKERING LIKE FUCKING MORONS WHO DONT HAVE THE BALLS TO ADMIT YOU ACTUALLY LIKE EACH OTHER! ALEAH WOULDN'T WANT YOU TO ACT LIKE THIS, SO GROW THE FUCK UP!"

A beeping noise called the attention of everyone in the room. Nobody moved, nobody breathed.

Allura took a deep breath and stepped up to the panel. Swiping and clicking with shaking hands.

A moment of silence and a sharp gasp before she fell back into Coran's arms screaming and crying.

"THANK THE GODS!" She screamed into Coran's embrace. "THANK THE GODS!"

We all took a deep breath. My heart felt like it was going to explode from the good news.

Aleah was going to be ok.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

-Aleah-

Dwight carefully grabbed my hands and everything turned white.... it was just as anyone could imagine it. White.... endless white with very transparent white clouds drifting in the air.

"Look at you." Dwight smiled down at me. His hands laced with mine as our bodies stood close together. "You're just as beautiful as the last moment I saw you."

"I missed you so much." I cried.

He removed one of his hands and gently swiped the tear from my cheek. "I know baby girl. I know." He leaned down for a kiss. "I missed you too.... I've been watching you closely."

I giggled and leaned into his hand. "Stalker."

He chuckled, nuzzling his nose to mine.

I took a deep breath. A burning question on my mind.

"Am I dead?"

His breath stilled. "No..."

I pulled away. "No?"

He smiled weakly. "No... It's not your time yet."

"Then.... why am I here?!" I felt like a dog that's been offered food for the first time in days just to have it rudely yanked away.

He tuck a lock of hair behind my ear. "I've always loved your hair..."

I stepped away from him. "Dwight!"

He chuckled. "I missed that attitude of yours too... but you're here because I wanted to tell you something..."

I looked up at him, allowing him to continue.

"Ya gotta move on, babe." He smiled.

My blood ran cold. "What?"

"You know what I said. I need you to move on. I've been watching you destroy yourself over something that you couldn't control... at first I thought it was sweet knowing how much we meant to you but after a while...." his smile faded. He gently wrapped his hands around the base of my neck, messaging the muscle. "Baby I can't let you go on like this..."

I was stunned... how do you even reply to that. 

"No... no this isn't real" I stepped again out of his grasp. "...I'm dreaming aren't I? You wouldn't say this...."

"This is real, Aleah. And I know hoe to prove it too!" His devilish smile came back. "That rock I gave you? I need you to break it open."

I looked at him dumbfounded. "Why?"

"So you can know that I'm real... that what you're seeing is really me..." he looked away for a second before coming back to me. "And when you do. When you do crack that rock open and see what's inside, I need you to, baby are you listening?... I need you to tell Shiro how you feel."

My heart stopped. I felt like a deer caught in the headlights. My eyes started tearing up. "Dwight no please, listen! It's not what it looked like! I tried so hard to fight those feelings! I wanted nothing more but to be loved by you for the rest of my life, and I was ready to live the rest of my life alone but I was so confused and then he kissed me-"

"Baby, baby, baby, baby..." he shushed me. "It's ok. Really it is! I'm not mad. I could never be mad at you. In fact, I'm proud of you." He started crying.

"We're all proud of you...."

My eyes widened and I turned around. There they were. Daniel and Travis.

I ran into their arms crying.

"I missed you all so much!" I pulled away from their embrace. "I'm so sorry I did what I did! I didn't know how to stop it! I should have just let you take me then we'd-"

Daniel shushed me by placing a finger over my lips. "Don't even say it. You have made us all so proud of you, Aleah."

"Yeah," Travis' accent rang. "We've seen the difference you made for that team and you've become part of the defenders of the universe! That's HUGE!"

"And it's because of that..." Dwight stepped into my sights again. "That I.... that we're asking you to let go..."

The tears couldn't stop. I was clutching onto the sleeves of his shirts. "Dwight.... I can't..."

He grabbed my shoulders with his tight grip, lowering himself to eye level. He was crying just as hard as I was. "Yes... you can! I need you too baby. I love you, I'll always love you! But it would be so selfish of me to ask you to continue being alone... I've seen how Shiro treats you, how he talks to his team mates about you, hell I've seen how he even looks at you! He loves you... and I know you love him... and that's ok..." he kissed my forehead. "Just please... be happy again... I hate seeing you so alone at night... how you toss and turn to look for me but I can't be there for you.... you're not replacing me, I know that. You're just being happy... and that's all I can ask."

"I'm sorry, Dwight." I sniffed into his jacket. "I'm so sorry!" My tears ran free, showing no sign of stopping.

He curled into my embrace. "I know baby, I know."

Travis and Daniel wrapped themselves around us.

"I love you all so much..."

\---------------------------------

-Shiro-

I couldn't stand just sitting around anymore. Someone had to pay for what they did to Aleah, and it couldn't wait until she woke up.

I stood up. "Everyone..." my voice coming out darker than I intended. "Somebody issued the ordered that resulted in Aleah's near death... and their ship is somewhere nearby... I say we all get into our lions, and show them just who they messed with."

They stood up, looks of determination on their faces.

"We track them down," Pidge spoke.

"Form Voltron," Lance continues. 

"And obliterate them." Hunk finished.

"For Aleah." Kieth added.

Allura stood up, with a look that mirrored ours. "Give them hell paladins."

And with that we were running to our stations. In completely silence we suited up and entered our lions.

"Alright team, we know the plan?" I spoke through our intercom system. 

"Located, destroy, form, and destroy some more." Lance answered. 

"For Aleah..." we spoke at the same time.

-Third POV-

A pulse went through the paladins. The lions were as determined to defeat the intruders as much as the paladins, and to show their support, they flashed what they saw and heard of Aleah's speech and exchange between her and the Sargent. Her words of believe and encouragement rang through the paladins in a sense that made their spirits roar. With the memory finished, they gritted their teeth and shot out of the hanger.

"You heard her!" Kieth yelled. "Aleah believes in us to defeat Zarkon, then we can handle something as tiny as these shit heads."

"Then what are we waiting for? FORM VOLTRON!" Shiro ordered before the group flew into a fight.

\-----------------------------

-Aleah-

A deep gasp of breath. That's what I remember... my eyes shot open and I was falling forward onto the ground. A loud gasp came from the corner of the room.

"Oh thank god!" Trish went to my side, helping me up. "You're awake!"

She pulled me into a tight hug before I pushed her off and made way for the waste bin in the room. A heavy load of bile came racing up my throat and out of my mouth violently.

Trish chuckled nervously. "Yeah, Allura said this might happen. Something about the discarded tissue in your stomach from the wound?"

As I stood up, feeling better, she came to my side and pat my back. "We thought that we lost you..." she spoke softly. "They're out their right now fighting as Voltron to avenge you." She giggled. "They were just so heartbroken and they wanted justice..."

"Talk later..." I groaned. "Bed now..."

She giggled, leading me out the door. "Oh about that." She lead me out the door and down the hall. "We had to move you into another room. Your other one was destroyed in the attack so.... here we are."

We stopped in front of Allura's bedroom. The big door lined with golds and blues.

"This is Allura's room."

"Surpriiiiiise!" She sang. "Allura is moving into her fathers old room! She thought that she would give the room to the leader of Voltron, but with your room destroyed and how you defended the entire castle by yourself... she thought you deserved it..."

"That's very..." I grunted from my stuff stomach. "Sweet of her... bed please." I pleaded with her. She just giggled and helped me into my room.

\---------------------

-Allura-

I watched from the control room as Voltron delivered the final blow. Their ship cut into two pieces with a slice of Voltron's sword. I bid the team congratulations and invited them back to the ship.

Knowing the medical pod would be the first place they'd go, I decided to meet them there and share the good news about Aleah.

Just as I thought, they all came running in with looks of need, only for their faces to pale at the sight of her empty pod.

"Wh-where is she?" Kieth spoke first.

I smiled widely. "You'll all be glad to know that Aleah has made a full recovery and is now taking her quarters in my old room... I was going to give it to the head of Voltron, but..." I looked over to Shiro with a hopeful glance. "I hope you're alright with the change of arrangements, Shiro."

He grinned sweetly. "It's fine. After everything, she deserves it."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Lance's goofy grin returned and he jumped in place. "Can we see her?!"

I shook my head. "She really needs her rest right now. Trisha reported to me the second she was lying in bed that she's insanely weak and needs time to get her strength back." I squared my shoulders. "It's because of this that I ask no one, except Trish, visit Aleah during her resting period."

The audible dissatisfaction and protests groaned from the Paladins except Shiro, who just looked like he was glad she was alive.

"But that being said," I nodded towards Hunk. "That give you an important task of putting her meals together for the next few days. Think you're up too it?"

Hunk was a sobbing mess. "Anything for her! I'll even write little get well soon messages with it!"

\---------------------------

-Five Days Later-

-Aleah-

I've very rarely moved from this spot. Only standing to stretch and or use the restroom, which I now had my own. Trish visited me multiple times in the day to bring me my food or to just keep me company. She would tell me how the team keeps asking about me and when she thinks I'll be ready to come out, she even told me how Kieth has tried to sneak in multiple times just to be caught by her.

I love them all.

Speaking of food, Hunk has been personally making my meals for most of my time recovering. When he wasn't forced off to fight for Voltron, he or the team would send me little get well notes with my food. They were mainly from Lance, Pidge, and Hunk. Kieth and Shiro probably aren't ones for written words in my imagination.

Shiro.

I almost forgot. I told Trisha about my dream and she was in shock. She mentioned how in the moments before I was placed in the pod I was staring at an empty corner of the room talking to no one. She even mentioned how she thought I was crying in the pod.

When I told her about what Dwight said to me, about moving on with Shiro, she was very supportive. She's always been cheering me on and now that she had Dwight's back up, she has been making it a point to tell me about how Shiro was doing every time she visited.

"Shiro always looks at me when I enter a room hoping you're with me." "Shiro told me how he'll sometimes walk by your old room out of habit to see if you're singing." "Shiro asked about you again today. He was checking to see how you're recovering."

I swear this girl...

I had her bring me my rock from Dwight from my old room and placed it on my new night stand.

I have yet to break it open in fear that is was all a dream. If I broke it and saw nothing... then that wasn't Dwight... it was a dying delusion of a bleeding heart girl.

So I just looked at it everyday, too scared to know the truth...

It was around 3am on the ship and I decided it was time to get a shower and start walking around again. So after a quick wash of my curls, and sliding on some work clothes, I grabbed my maintenance tablet and headed off to the kitchen.

The halls were quiet and dimly lit. Not a sound could be heard except the low blowing vents. All the Galra bodies had been removed and the halls were cleaned. Allura probably had the guys clean up as a sense of "training". I stifled a laugh at that thought.

Finally, the kitchen. I took grabbed some water out of the fridge and took my seat at the island. Occasionally sipping the water, I swiped through the Altean tablet checking on shields, generators, and weapons.

The kitchen door slid open, and there stood a sleepy Hunk. We froze as we made eye contact. I smiled at him and wished him good morning.

He smiled back. "Good morning.... would you... like some breakfast?"

I nodded. "I would love some."

It was 3 am, but right now I was just glad to be in someone's company.

Sweet smells started to waft around the room and eventually Lance came slugging in.

"What is that delicious smell?" He groaned before seeing me.

"Good morning, Lance!"

"Want to join us for breakfast?" Hunk invited him.

Lance never removed his eyes from me. I could see his eyes turning glassy as he nodded his head with a small smile. "I would love to."

Lance carefully sat himself next to me. We were soon joined by Kieth and Pidge, and then Coran, and then Allura.

They all acted very calmly around me, not wanting to overwhelm me, which I really appreciated.

The door slid open again revealing an upset looking Shiro.

"Why are you all up? You're suppose to be asleep until-"

His eyes landed on me... the tension in the air was enough to silence and earn interest of the other in the room.

"Hi Shiro." I smiled.

A slow intake of breath, and then he held it. "Hi... Aleah."

I wasn't aware of Lance standing up and moving to the other side of the island.

"Care to join us Shiro?" He offered. "Hunk made breakfast."

Shiro never stopped gazing at me. "Yeah," his eyes drifted to Lance. "Sounds good."

Hunk prepared a plate for Shiro. The team continued their conversation as Shiro rounded the table and stood next to the empty seat.

"Is this seat taken?"

I bit my lip and smirked. "Now it is."

He's eyes dropped as he breathed a laugh.

This feeling inside of me wanted to launch my arms around him. I wanted so badly to cling to him and apologize for all the trouble and worrying I put them through.

But just for now, once he was fully seated at the table, I just dropped my hand under the table and placed it on top of his human hand on his lap.

I could feel his whole body tense up, his eyes moved from his food to the center of the table. The tension of how he would react was making me want to throw up. He slowly and subtly looked over to me, silently asking me why. I could only respond with a sad weak smile and curling my fingers between his to squeeze his hand tighter.

He looked back down to his food, his expression still blank, while under the table, he moved our flipped our hands onto my lap and let go of our grasp. For a split second, I thought he was rejecting me. But before my heart could even break, he quickly placed his palm on mine and laced our fingers together.

His eyes didn't move from his food, but he was shaking. His hands grasped mine tightly, as if he was afraid to let go. I couldn't blame him. I was too scared to let go too.

"Aleah," Pidge pulled my attention. "I just have to know how you did it!"

My eyes widened. "Do...do what?"

"How did you take town 28 Galra by yourself?!" Hunk finished.

Lance stood up and leaned up and placed both hands on the table, leaning forward. "Yeah, we watched the security tapes and oh god you kicked ass! When you lead them into your room, and then dropped from the ceiling and shot them all dead!" He made guns with his hands and made a machine gun noise. "BAMBAMBAMBAMBAM!"

"Or when she sniped 8 guards before they could even find where she was!!" Coran added.

"Or when you were falling from a hundred foot ceiling and you knew the only way to cushion your fall would be to move the direction of your fall!" Pidge had a big smile, as if he was talking to his idol. 

"That was quick thinking at its finest!" Allura added.

I chuckled nervously. "Yeah well, it wasn't a complete win. I dislocated my shoulder doing that." 

"But the fall would have killed you! I think a dislocated shoulder would just be child's play!" He continued.

"Don't forget that sick speech you gave to that Galra asshole! You fucked with the wrong heroes! Voltron will show no mercy! See you in hell! BAMBAMBAMBAM!"

I blushed, remembering the dialog. 

"Who knew you were like, our number one fan!" Lance teased.

Shiro must have taken the squeeze I gave his hand as a sign of being uncomfortable.

"Alright guys, bring it down a notch. Aleah is still in the process of recovering and I'm sure all this excitement isn't helping."

"Yes she is!" Trish stomped into the kitchen. "Aleah why are you out of bed? I went to check on you and saw your bed empty!"

I shrugged and grinned. "Sor..ry?"

"Damn right you're sorry, I was worried!" She looked around and noticed the plates of food. "It's like, 5am why are you all eating breakfast?"

"Aleah was trying to work, so I wanted to distract her with food." Hunk answered. "Everyone else just smelt my delicious cooking and joined in. Want some?"

She shook her head. "No I'm fine, but Aleah you really need to go back to bed."

I groaned. "Trish I'm fine! I walked all the way here in once piece didn't I?" I looked around to everyone. "I actually have a lot of energy right now, anyone in for a quick training session?"

"No no no no no!" She crossed her arms. "Come on. Bed!"

I rolled my eyes and smiled to everyone. "I guess I should go. Goodnight everyone... was nice seeing you all again!"

I went to walk past Trish when somebody pulled my shirt to stop me.

Everyone looked at Lance in shock. He was trying to hold a smile but I could tell he was hurting on the inside.

"La-" he pulled me tightly in an embrace. Wrapping his arms around my rib cage protectively, I breathed a laugh.

"We were so scared for you." He whispered into my hair.

I wrapped my arms around him tightly for a second and pulled back. "Lance, in fine! You guys saved me just in time! I'm ok now."

Hunk took this opportunity to cut into the hug and embrace me tightly. Shortly, I was giving loving hugs to everyone else, even surprisingly Kieth.

Shiro stood their awkwardly, not knowing if he should do the same or not. I gave him a welcoming grin and motioned for him to come to me.

He gave an unsure smile but wrapped one arm around my back, giving a half hug and leaning down to help me hug him. It was short, and I'm sure awkward for him, but he mutter a quick "Thank you." Before completely pulling away. My face was a light pink when I smirked back, not able to keep eye contact for longer than one second.

Even when I was walking down the halls with Trish, who was lecturing me, I still felt heat in my face. My stomach had butterflies and my heart was racing.

"Did you hear me?" Trish asked.

"Huh?" I looked around. Back in my room already?

"I said the next time you run out you need-" my eyes drifted from her and landed on the rock next to my bed.

Adrenaline. Anxiousness. A voice in my head saying "do it.". Whatever it was, it pushed me to walk past Trish and without a second thought, I threw it across the room. Trish let out a shriek as the rock came into contact with the metal walls and split open.

"WHAT IS YOUR-" she stopped. "Oh my god..." she mumbled.

Faint shimmering light came from the now broken object and it laid on the ground. I slowly approached it and picked it up with shaking hands.

Inside were the most beautiful crystals I have ever seen. Sharp purplish blue crystals stood strong in the walls of the rocks. This is what he meant. This is what he wanted me to know.

"This was suppose to be my wedding stone." I muttered to myself more than anyone.

Trish dropped to my side and picked up the other half. "Aleah, these are beautiful... then... that means..." tears fell from her face. "It was really them!"

Travis had asked me to pass a message onto Trish when I came back that they were glad that she made it and how he always had a thing for her sexually. She thought that was funny because she always knew that.

Something clicked. Shiro..... Shiro!

I grabbed Trish's shoulder.

"Go get Shiro!" I begged her. "Tell him I need to talk to him immediately!"

"Wh-what? Now? It's a little early don't you-"

I grabbed her other shoulder. "Please Trish!" I moved my lips into a stupid wide smile. "I need to tell him something!"

She gasped as the meaning of my words became clear. She pulled me into a hug, told me how proud she was of me, and ran out.

I placed my hand over my crazy beating heart and laughed to myself. Dwight was happy. I was happy. I can do this.

I quickly cleared up the mess, and placed the two big halves on my dresser. I admired it for a second before starting to pace my room impatiently.

When the small knock on my door came, my blood ran cold. I was nervous. I had so much to say, but how would I say it?

My shaking hands opened the door, revealing a confused Shiro.

"Hey," he waved. "Trish said you needed to talk to me and it was an emergency. Is everything o- OOMP!"

I pulled him into my room by his shirt and pushed him passed me. I quickly shut the door and locked it before I jumped onto Shiros surprised form and attacked his mouth. My legs wrapped tightly around his torso, and my arms around his neck, he didn't react. He was frozen in shock. He hummed against my lips, wanting my attention, and I leaned back.

"I'm sorry for how I have been treating you lately. I've been denying myself and my feelings by trying to avoid you, but I'm ready for you now. I'm just sorry it took so long."

"Wait wait wait." He looked like he had 40 things running through his mind. "What?!"

I giggled and placed a light kiss on his lips. "I almost died, Shiro. I know that. But what I realized is, is that life is so short and I can't spend the rest of my life fighting what my heart truly wants. And what it wants, is you." I bit my lip and looked through my eyelashes at him. "That is...." I placed another small kiss to his lips. "If you still want me."

"A-are you sure?" His uneven breath was getting the better of him. "Of course I still want you, but not if you're not 100% sure about this. I won't hate you for it."

"I'm 100% sure that this is what I want." I giggled.

"In that case..." he pushed my back against the wall and attacked my lips.


	24. XXX

Chapter 24

-Aleah-

Months and months of built up tension was released. Our lips molded with each others as our tongues danced.

"I'm sorry... I kept you waiting." I breathed in between kisses.

"Don't apologize." He huffed. He moved his kisses to my neck, starting under my jaw and downwards to the base of my neck on my shoulder muscle.

I moaned his name and in response he bit the piece of flesh, sucking and licking it. The pain brought another moan out of my lips ands a I bucked my hips closer to his earning a growl from his throat. I could feel himself harden underneath the fabric of his pants and my heart began racing even faster. His hands moved straight to the muscle under my butt and squeezed, earning another moan from me. He seized this opportunity to return to my mouth to fight with my tongue again. Whether he meant to or not, his hips started rolling into mine.

"Shiro." I moaned.

"Hmm?" He hummed, still focused on the inside of my mouth.

"Make love to me." I moaned again.

To my displeasure he stopped with a gasp. He pulled back and surveyed my face. I must have been a panting blushing mess. He rest his forehead against mine and looked me deep into the eyes.

"If...if I start I don't think I'll be able to stop." He grunted when he accidentally moved his hips against mine. "Are you sure?"

I nodded my head enthusiastically. "Please Shiro, I need you."

His pupils dilated and wasted no time attaching himself to my neck again, a sharp hiss escapes my lips.

His hands slid under my shirt and quickly pulled it over my head before returning to my sides. The newly revealed flesh gave him a clear shot for my collar bone. Oh god he was a biter... fuck.

My hands found the zipper of his vest and pulled it down as low as I could before meeting our joined hips.

A sharp tinge of pleasure shot through me when he returned to the spot under my jaw.

"Shiro!" I moaned.

His grip tightened at that sound of his name. With a low growl he moved his grasp to my butt and moved from the wall.

How easily he held my weight drove me crazy... as if feeling his stone muscles clench and relax over and over again wasn't bad enough...

"EEP!" I squealed when I was violently thrown onto my bed.

I looked up towards the heavily panting Shiro as finish unzipping his vest and shrugged it off on the floor behind him, not taking his eyes off me. I bit my lip watching his pectoral muscles push through from under his shirt in the process. The metal clinking noise of his belt unfastening brought me back to the moment and I quickly kicked off my shoes and discarded my pants.

I scoot towards the edge of the bed just as he was removing his boots in a hurried, messy way, and linked both of my pointing finger through a belt loop on both sides of his waist. I used this new form of leverage to pull myself up. He stood a foot taller than me so I had to stand on my toes to place a light kiss on his lips, just as he started to responded to it, I smirked against his lips and spun us around. He, being in shock from the sudden movement, stood wobbly which gave me the perfect opportunity to push him down to be seated on the edge of the bed.

He looked up to my victorious look and snickered. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into him.

"My god you're beautiful." He pointed out.

I giggled as he lightly kissed my stomach. I silently hoped the dark could mask my scars but telling by the look on Shiro's face, that was a no go.

He sat back to get a full look at the huge burn scar. It was pink and spread from a little under my belly button upwards at about the size of a watermelon. The pink and red mark was surely going to be a mark I wore for the rest of my life, and I was ok with that.

He placed another light kiss to my scar.

"I'm sorry." He whispered into the silent darkness of my room.

I placed my hand to the side of his face and made him look up at me. "Don't be." I smirked down to him and ran my hand through his hair.

He didn't look settled by my response so I went about another way to get his mind off of it. I kneeled down inbetween his legs, leaving a trail of kisses and bites while I placed my palm above his hardening manhood.

His grip on my forearm slid down to my wrist that was above the muscle and pushed and pulled my hand over it. I giggled into the bite I was making on his neck before deciding to continue my trail downwards.

Starting from his jaw, to the side of his Adam's apple, his collar bone, his chest above his heart, abs and then I placed slow soft kiss under his stomach. 

I looked up at his disheveled form. His hair was smeared backwards by his sweat, the bites I left on him were already red, his eyes locked with mine, anxiously waiting for whatever I was going to do. I gave him my sexiest smirk before placing a soft kiss on his harden member through the crotch of his pants, never breaking eye contact.

A low moan came from him and then shortly followed by the holding of his breath as I unzipped his pants. I looked up to him again with an evil smirk as I began to pull down his pants and underwear. A sigh of relieve past his lips when his member sprang free. I giggled at his reaction before wrapping a hand around him, the sensation sending a jolt through him.

My first plan was to use my thumb to smooth out the bead of precum over his head.

"Mmm... Aleah!" He clutches his eyes clothes.

"Yes, darling?" I asked in my most seductive tone I could muster up.

"....pl-please!" He clutched the sheets on the bed.

"Of course." I grinned.

I gave a few soft slow pumps down his shaft, living in the shower of moans that came from him. It was only when I lowered my mouth onto him that his eyes finally shot open.

I must have surprised him with my lack of gag reflex because the first time I hit his hilt he gasped as if he's been holding his breath for 5 minutes.

The best part was when I could feel his fingers lace into my locks. He was hesitant on pushing too hard but after seeing what I could do he began to push and pull on it as he pleased.

The first pulse I felt from him, he grunted and pulled at my hair.

"A-Aleah!" He called for me.

"Hm?" I hummed around him.

He groaned and fell back onto the bed. The vibrations from my throat over stimulating him. His grip on my hair pulled me off of him.

"Hold on... wait, I'm getting close."

I smirked, standing up from my position and straddling him. He pushed himself back up and placed a hand back into my hair, and without hesitation, pulled me down to his lips.

I giggled during this because in my experience, men never want to kiss after a blow job... Shiro was different though.

"Lie down." He mumbled against my lips.

When I didn't respond right away, he took the opportunity to hook his arm around the small of my back and stand. A small turn and a small knee crawl onto the bed and I'm under his touch. My head on the pillows and his mouth on my neck again, he slid his hands around my back and impressed me with how easily he removed my bra.

"Impressive." I joked.

"If you think that's impressive..." he crawled back up to my face, creating his next mark on me right under my ear. "... your about to be in for one hell of a ride later."

My arousal sky rocketed at this point. His hand slid down my frame and into my underwear. A high pitched squeal emerged when he first started to play with my bundle of nerves.

"You are ridiculously wet, young lady." He smirked against my skin. "Now how did that happen?"

I smacked his arm. "Shut up, yo-OU!" I squealed again when his finger slid into me.

His "come here" motion he pulled inside of me had me curling under him. Then he added another finger and did the same thing. And then another. Meanwhile his other hand and his mouth were preoccupied by my breasts.

"Oh god... fuck.... Shiro...!" I moaned. "I'm going to...!"

He stuck his thumb right on my sensitive nub and added pressure while rubbing it slightly, I screamed his name again.

"Going to what?" He spoke above me. Was he just.... watching me?

"I'm going to come!" I panted, my hands clutching his arms.

"Then do it." He huffed, clearly still flustered.

He began to kneed my nub even harder while his fingers and my hips jumped towards each other. As I felt the pressure building in my lower stomach snap, I cried out his name again.

He pulled his finger out of me and licked them clean before returning to my lips. I curled my thumbs underneath my underwear and pulled them down.

Once they hit the floor, Shiro and I were in a heated make out session.

"Shiro... baby...." I panted to him. "Please, I need you. Right now."

His hot breath fell onto my face.

"Me too. I can't wait any longer..." He hooked an arm around my waist and pulled me up so I was straddling his hips again.

Without any more delay, I crawled further up him and grab a hold of his member. We both held our breaths as I lowered myself onto him and into me. He groaned when I came to a full stop at his hilt.

"Just... give me a second." I huffed.

"Of course..." he panted back. "Take a-as long as you- fuck you are so tight!" His head fell back.

I placed my forehead against his hard chest, giving myself time to really place myself in what was happening.

"So..." he moaned. "How about this space weather right?"

I broke into a fit of giggles and smacked his chest. "Really? Right now?"

I could feel him shrug in response and I took that as my cue to try to start moving.

Pain. Pain. Pain... and their it was... The euphoria that was the unique feeling of being with that special person. I raised and lowered my self in a diagonal motion, towards and away from Shiro.

"F-fuck..." I stuttered.

My fingers stayed curled around his shoulders as he tried to contain himself with his hands on my hips.

I started with a slow pace, moving up his shaft to create that friction I so desperately needed on, while getting that filling feeling from him. I didn't really mess with the speed as I was too busy being lost into the sensation I was feeling. I didn't even notice Shiros gripping hands and push and pulls at an attempt to speed me up.

"Fuck!" He growled, pushing us backwards onto the bed. "I can't control myself anymore... hold on to me!"

I wrapped my legs around his waist and placed my hands on his back as he started pounding into me right away at an unforgivable pace.

"SHIRO!" I moaned.

"Yes.." He growled in my ear. "Keep saying my name... just like that!"

"Sh-Shiro!!" I whined.

My head fell back further into the pillows, my body jolting at every single slap of our skin. My finger raked down his back making him growl, my vision was blurring.

God damn, when's the last time I've been fucked like this?

"I'm sorry!" He groaned suddenly.

I opened my eyes again and looked up at his thrusting form. His eyes were clenched tightly and the sweat was dripping off of his hair and onto me.

"Wh-What?" I mumbled. Unable to get my thoughts in order.

"I'M SORRY!" He yelled again. Was he crying? He continued to pound into me, never faulting while he continued to speak. "We... ugh! We should have been there... we-we should ha-ave been there to UHN to protect you.... you shouldn't of had to fight alo-OH-ne!"

His tears fell onto my face. I moved a hand up to his check and wiped the tears away.

"Shiro, please." I moaned in my slobbery, panting state. "It's not UGH It's wasn't your fault! I'm ok! Everything's Ugh!"

His thrust became deeper. "I almost lost you!" He sobbed. "I was so.... FUCK!" He moaned.

A tight pressure inflates its self in my lower stomach. "Baby I'm UGH!... IM SO CLOSE!" I moaned.

"Me too, Baby... me too! Please come with me." He begged me from my hair.

"O-ok!" I shook my head.

The bed was rocking violently, if it wasn't for the feet deep of metal walls, the whole castle would have been able to hear it. Fast thrust and angry moans were exchanged. I involuntarily clenched around him. Shiro bit his lip, trying to contain himself.

"One..." Shiro grunts, bucking into me harshly. "UGHN... TWO!" His hand removed mine from my face and clasped it above my head on the mattress.

"SHIRO!" A long moan escaped me before I screamed his name and came over him.

"Aleah!" He grunted shortly after and sent one last strong thrust into me, emptying himself inside. His warm seed filled me. My vision was blurring even after he rode out both our orgasms. Once his sloppy thrust came to a stop, he rolled off of me. No words were exchanged for what felt like 5 minutes. We just Iied there, staring at the ceiling, listening to our deep pants for breath and loud beating hearts.

"Wow..." I spoke first. "I have never..." due to lack of breath I couldn't get the words out.

"I'm sorry if I was too rough." He sighed, finally catching up with his breaths. "I just... I feel like I waited so long for that... and god knows the last time I've been with someone..." he rolled on his side to face me. "But damn, you..."

I rolled over on my side to better hear what he had to say. "Yeeeeees?" I encouraged him.

He smirked and fastened an arm around the small of my back, pulling us into eachother. "You're... amazing." 

I placed my hand back onto his cheek and gentle caressed his cheek bone. We looked into each others eyes, just enjoying the moment.

"Thank you, Shiro... for waiting for me." I pushed myself up to kiss him.

"Thank you for letting me." He kissed back.

"I'm... insanely tired..." I giggled.

He brushed a piece of hair behind my ear. "Go to sleep, darling... I'll be here when you wake up..."

It must have been 6-7am... but we fell asleep into each others arms... for that moment, nothing else mattered. We weren't in space, we weren't in the middle of a war, we weren't in constant danger... we were just... here.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morning after

Chapter 25

-Aleah-

I felt so serene. As I lied on my bed, I couldn't help but feel... comfortable and relaxed. Something soft caressed my cheek. It was a smooth feeling that raised goosebumps on my arms. I snuggled closer to the source of heat in front of me.

The cold object left my face and wrapped around my waist. I just started to register it as someone's arm.

I slowly opened my eyes. The familiar scent reminding me what happened last night. Shiros naked body was pressed tightly against mine. My face was pressed into his neck with his nuzzling mine. He started pulling at a strand of my hair, most likely pulling the curl and watching it bounce back up.

"Stop." I moaned.

He let go of the lock and returned his cold arm to my back. "Good morning." He chuckled.

My position gave me just the right advantage to place a kiss on his collar bone. "Good morning."

He ran his finger through my thick hair. "Sleep well?"

I slightly turned my head to kiss him on the side of his neck, using my hand on the other side of his neck to push him closer. "Mhm." I hummed.

A few seconds of silence passed before he spoke again, sounding uncertain. "Is this... Is this still ok?"

Was he really questioning this now?

I pulled myself away from him, his arm still lightly drafted over my waist. I leaned over him and placed a kiss on his lips.

"Why wouldn't it be?" I smirked down to him.

He looked so beautiful. He stayed lying on his back looking up at me, that same look of adoration that has caused me so much trouble before.

"I guess you're right." He smiled up at me.

"Damn straight I am." I sat up fully and slapped his chest. "Come on, it's basically 1pm. Everyone's going to wonder where you are."

I slid out of bed, still naked, searching for my pants. Once I found them amongst the other discarded clothes I pulled them on.

"I hope we weren't too loud last night..." I said while fidgeting with the button. "Things got out of hand last night and I'm usually not that vocal."

He was sat up at this point, watching me get dressed. At first I thought he was just enjoying the view but then I realized he was eyeing my scar. His eyes held a soft look of guilt and pain.

I, suddenly feeling very self conscious, grabbed my tank top off the ground. "I'm going take a shower." My words melded together as I desperately tried to escape.

I didn't bother looking back or waiting for a response because I just wanted to get out of there.

I started the water and waited by the sink for it to warm up. I took this time to really examine the scar on my stomach. Every time I looked at it it was always looked bigger than I remembered. I gently ran my hand over it. I, thankfully, haven't felt any pain since I woke up in the med pod. And then I noticed my neck. Red hickeys all over in random places. I groaned.

"Damn it, Shiro!" I turned to yell through the door. "You left-

Shiro had already snuck into the bathroom and wrapped me in an embrace from behind. His right hand slid over mine and rest on my stomach, intertwining our fingers. I couldn't get a clear look of his expression because he was face down on my shoulder.

"I'm so glad you're ok." He whispered into my shoulder. His hand clutched over mine while his other caressed my forearm on my other side. "I was so scared that I may have lost you. I was holding you in my arms, covered in blood, and you were staring off into nothing... And then you started saying his name, you were talking to him. I thought that was it..." my shoulder started to feel moist. His grip on me tightened. "I thought that you were leaving us. Everyone was so.... destroyed."

I tensed. "They were?"

"What?" He said sharply. He looked up from my shoulder and into the mirror, his eyes were starting to look red and glossy with a frown on his lips. "Of course they were! You do know what you mean to everyone, don’t you?!"

I smiled to myself and turned around in his grasp. I placed my hands on both side of his face. "I do know. I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking." I pushed myself up on my toes and gave him a soft kiss. He moved his hands to my sides.

"I'm sorry." He whispered into my lips. I placed another kiss. "I'm so sorry."

"Stop apologizing." I kissed him again. "It wasn't your fault." I giggled.

He squeezed my hips, obviously not convinced. "None the less, I should also say thank you."

I pulled back, confused. "Thank you?"

He gave me a serious look with a small frown on his lips. "For protecting the lions. You put yourself in danger just to guard them... thank you."

I blushed from his strong eye contact. I stepped out of his grasp and lightly punched his chest. "Shut up, anyone would have done it."

He chuckled and grabbed my wrist, pulling me back into him and placing a kiss on my neck. "Thank you." He repeated.

I pulled away, keeping two inches in between us and smirked up to him. "Yeah well, thank you for these." I pointed to my neck. "But I guess I can let you off the hook because looks like you didn't get out clean either!" I giggled walking my fingers above the red patches from him stomach up.

He looked up into the mirror and observed his skin. "Damn it, Aleah!" He chuckled. “We have training today!”

Red and purple marks littered his skin along with the occasional bite mark here and there.

"Why don't we both take a shower?" I pulled at his arm. "We could use it after our little exercise last night." I winked at him.

His smirked turned in a small smile. "Alright."

He turned away first to get in the shower, revealing a long line of scratches down his back. I burst into a fit of laughter again.

He turned and looked over his shoulder. 

"DAMN IT, ALEAH!"

\----------------------------

-Trish-

Lance walked in all groggy looking.

"I really wish Allura would disable that alarm for just one night- what are you smirking at?" He glared at me suspiciously.

I was in the kitchen looking over maintenance reports, giggling to myself.

"Oh nothing~!" I sang.

"How's Aleah?" He asked routinely while opening up the fridge and sticking his head in.

I smirked bigger. "Oh pretty well one could assume..." I beat my fingers on the counter top. "In fact, she felt so well last night that her and Shiro had a little sleepover last night."

Lance stood up and slammed the fridge shut. "No way!" He ran over to sit across from me. "No way! Really?! How do you know??"

"Well," I smiled mischievously. "After I showed her to her room, she asked me to get go get Shiro. I thought I'd leave them alone but I got curious... so I... snuck by and put my ear on the door."

He leaned forward. "And?"

I giggled. "Let's just say... mission accomplished." I winked.

He gasped loudly. "Holy shit, Shiro you sly dog..."

"What?" Shiro walked in, normal attire.

We both froze. "Umm...." Lance tried to think of an excuse. "Wait, are you just now waking up?"

He visibly blushed. "Well... you see, after breakfast I thought since I was up I'd do a bit of training and ended up staying up pretty late." His blushes darkened as he scrambled for words.

Lance and I looked at eachother with dark eyes. He looked back with a smirk. "Oh yeah? Work up quiet a sweat last night?"

Shiro cleared his throat at the awkward question. "Do we have any cold water?" He tried to change the subject, heading towards the fridge.

"Morning everyone." Aleah joined us.

"Have a good night?" I teased her in Korean.

She squinted at me. "Don't say anything." She warned me back in our language.

"Can I say something to him?" I motioned to Shiro.

"NO!" She shouted in English. The boys jumped at her outburst. She cleared her throat, returning to Korean. "Do talk about it, ever!" She blushed.

Lance was loosing his shit laughing so hard before singing. “We know what you did~!”

Shiro spat out his water, deep blush forming on his face while Aleah glared at me, obviously flustered.

"Did you tell him?!" Aleah yelled at me.

"Oh please,” Lance cut in. “I know what the morning after looks like, and you two are the cover models."

"Oh yeah,” Aleah shot back with her blush still going strong. “I bet you and Keith know all about the morning after!”

My jaw dropped.

"WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" He screamed. “ITS NOT LIKE THAT!"

“YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN!” She screamed back.

"You two have been hanging around on your own a lot lately." I added.

"CAUSE WERE FRIENDS! I WOULD NEVER... NOT WITH..... WHY WOULD WE...”

"What's with all the shouting?" Keith groggily walked in.

Lance slammed his hands down on the counter. "SHUT UP! IM GOING TO GO TRAIN OR SOMETHING!" He stormed out of the room with a flustered face, making a point to hit Keith with his shoulder on the way out.

“What was that all about?” Keith asked, looking incredibly confused.

"Well hell," Shiro chuckled. "If that's all it takes to get him to train, then I give you two full permission to antagonize him." He joked trying to lighten the mood and most likely shift the attention from him and Aleah.

"Oh we don't need your permission for that." I winked at him.

"Seriously, what just happened?" Keith asked.

.............................

-Aleah-

"So what did happen last night?" Trish asked from underneath the generator.

“Shut up, Trish.” I groaned. The blush still burning on my face from earlier.

“Cause you two were pretty vocal. I mean, I had to put my ear on the door to hear it, but-“

I pushed myself out from under the generator.

“WHAT DID YOU HEAR?” I glared at her.

She stared at me with a blank look and use her foot to push the rolling board I was laying on back under the generator.

“Get back to work.” She giggled. “And besides, I didn’t hear anything..... much.”

I groaned and kept working. A few moments of silence passed before Trish started mumbling.

“I’m honestly surprised you’re walking.”

“Trish-ah!” I warned her.

“I’m just saying,” she said with a serious tone. “From what I was hearing, you should be in a fucking wheelchair.”

I giggled and used my wrench to knock her in the shin. She squealed in pain but immediately starting laughing with me.

“So how was it?” She asked, sounding very interested.

I pushed my self out and sat up. Looking around first and sighed. “I.... really shouldn’t say anything...”

She covered her mouth and started laughing.

“Really?!” She gasped. “Must’ve been pre~tty kinky if you can’t manage the courage to tell me!”

“Shut up!” I shushed her, looking around again. “It wasn’t anything like that.... it was just... really, really intense.”

“Holy crap.... that good?” She gasped at me.

I couldn’t find another way to respond to her other than by smiling slightly. She broke into a loud squeal.

“Trish!” I shushed her. “Keep it down, I shouldn’t even be talking to you about this!”

“We’re girls. We invented kiss and tell.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever, just please don’t tell anyone about this? Shiro and I want to keep this down until we feel comfortable coming out to everyone else about it.”

She giggled. “In my defense, I didn’t tell Lance, he figured it out. But yes,” she held her hand up in a scouts honor salute. “I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

“Thank you.” I sighed. “Now can we get back to work?”

“I’m just here to hand you tools, go right on ahead.” She joked, pushing me back under the generator.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda of had a field day writing this chapter.... I’m 21 I’m too old to be this into my own fan fiction xD

Chapter 26

-later in the day-

It was the last few hours in the day before everyone had to head to bed. We were all hanging out in the main room again with the exception of Pidge and Hunk, who were most likely working on some modifications in the hanger.

Lance, Keith, and Shiro were sitting together telling Allura and Coran about their training that day, while Trish and I sat in a corner doing minor modifications to some guns we have been working on. 

Occasionally, I would catch Shiro glancing at me or he would catch me looking at him and we’d just smile, blush, or wave at the other.

“I’m so tired.” He mouthed to me, going unnoticed by his teammates.

I dragged my hand over my face in a tired motion. “Me too.” I mouthed back. He chuckled quietly before returning his attention to his team mates.

I caught Trish’s attention and she followed my eye sight. She looked back at me.

“You two are gross.” She nudged me with her foot.

“Then don’t look.” I giggled.

“Is this how our lives will be for now on?” She rolled her eyes. “Are you two going to be all over eachother every single day?”

I softly smirked at her. “It’s just the honeymoon phase. You know that. It won’t last long.” I moved my attention back to my weapon, not realizing how my words came out.

Her eyes held a sad look, she opened her mouth to say something before being cut off by Lance’s loud yawn.

“Alright guys, I’m calling it a night. It’s curfew and for once I’m actually exhausted.” He winked at Trish. “Must be from me being so badass at training today.”

“Oh yeah,” Keith rolled his eyes. “Must be exhausting flying around while everyone else does the work!”

Lance snapped to Keith. “Hey, I’m a distance shooter kind of guy! Not close combat! At least I still get the target!”

They started storming their way out of the room. “Oh and what? I don’t?!”

The door shuts behind them, cutting off their bickering.

Allura looks to the rest of us. “It might be best for everyone to get some rest now. Everyone has worked hard today!”

With a small hand motion, Allura waved goodbye and started heading for her room as well.

Trish and I stood up, placing our weapons aside and stretching.

“I’m not even tired.” She groaned. “You up for some training?”

Before I could answer, I notice Shiro walking over to us. Trish quickly let out a yawn.

“Oh my god, I’m so tired!” She let out another forced yawned. “I’m going to go to bed because I’m sooo tired! Goodnight!”

She quickly left the room, leaving me and Shiro alone.

“Is she ok?” He chuckled.

“Yeah, don’t worry about her, she’s insane.” I looked back over to him. “So.... what’s up?”

“I talked to Lance. He promised to keep our... secret... to himself.”

I sighed. “That’s a relief. At least just until we’re absolutely sure about,” I motioned in between us. “This.”

“Yeah..” he chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “There was... something else.”

I raised an eyebrow and smirked. “And that is~?”

He made eye contact with me for a second before we both shyed away.

“Um...” he cleared his throat. “There’s something I want to show you, well not me, but... Black.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

“During training today, I told her that you were walking around again and she, kind of mentioned that she wanted to show you something.”

“I-” I have never been more confused before. “I’m sorry, but what? Can they... talk? They understand us?”

He blushed before shrugging. “I don’t really know how to explain it honestly. She can understand everyone and all, but she can’t ‘talk’ per say, she more like, sends thoughts to me. All of the lions can do that for their Paladins.”

I stared at him with a wide eyed confused look.

“I don’t know what to say except, lead the way.” I spiked quickly. “I’m now insanely curious.”

He chuckled and motioned me to follow him.

“We’ll take the fun way.” He winked at me.

“The fun way?” I slowed to a stop while Shiro kept walking. I started walking faster to catch up. “Shiro, there’s a fun way to the hanger?!”

.........................................

I was still in the middle of a fit of laughter after we pulled up to the black lion. The whole “adventurous” route to the lion was probably the most fun I’ve had since leaving Earth!

“I may have to start doing that for fun now!” I nudged him. “I had no idea that was here! All the Paladins get one?!”

He nodded his head. “That’s how everyone gets to their lion... and here we are.”

I looked up and gazed at the giant Black Lion. This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen her, but her size and design never ceased to amaze me.

“Hey girl.” Shiro greeted her.

Her eyes glowed in response to his voice, and the barrier around her deactivated.

She looked down to us, her size intimidating me just a little.

“Look who I brought.” He motioned to me.

I weakly waved. “.....hi?”

She lowered herself, the motion startling me. Shiro chuckled.

“She’s letting us in.” He assured me. Her mouth opened up for Shiro.

“Come on!” He held out a hand to me. I looked at it unsurely before reluctantly taking it. He pulled me inside and showed me to the cockpit.

I’ve been in the giant robot before, but not on such a happy occasion. Last time was when I found Trish, and Shiro had to come and get us.

I looked around, everything was much cooler than I remembered.

“Ok, so.” Shiro started. “There isn’t exactly a passenger seat in here, so you’ll have to... sit up here with me.”

My head snapped in his direction. “Are we going somewhere?” I asked, a little too excited.

He grabbed my hand and stepped closer in front of me.

He held a professional stature. Exactly how the leader of Voltron would look. “For defending the lions and the Defender of the Universe, it would be my honor as the leader of Voltron, to thank you.” He smiled down to me before taking a brief look to the control panel. “At least, Black wants to thank you.”

Before I could say anything, he was pulling me into his lap and pushing buttons on the control panel.

“Whatever you do,” he spoke while pressing whatever buttons. “Hold on tight.” With a pull of a lever, his lion roared to life and we were taking off into space.

I squealed at the speed we were going and clutched my arms tighter around Shiro’s neck, giggling into his chest. My legs, draped over the side of his chair, were kicking with excitement.

“This is so awesome!”

Shiro held a strong cocky smirk. “Just keep holding on.”

With the pull of both levers, the lion did a back flip before continuing further into space. This was like the best roller coaster I’ve ever been on.

“And.....” the lion slowed to a stop. “Here we are.”

My eyes scanned the stars. It was beautiful, but they were just stars. Not very uncommon in space.

“Where’s here?” I asked. I stood up to take a closer look out the window. Just stars.

“Oh sorry.” He chuckled. Moving the levers, his lion slowly spun around, reveling this beautiful galaxy system behind us.

I gasped. The beauty of the purple, blue, white system was breath taking.

“Shiro.... this is....”

It wasn’t until I felt his arm secure around me that I noticed he stood up.

“Black wanted me to take you here... as a thank you.”

I looked up to him, not knowing what to say. His arm pulled me in closer to his side. His gaze dropped from me to the control panel in front of him, a sad look on his face.

“During training today... she showed me something.” His hand presses tighter into me. “Something the lions didn’t show the other Paladins.”

I turned my full attention to him. “What was it?” I asked with concern.

“Your last words...”

My eyes widened in realization. While I was sitting on the ground bleeding, the black lion kneeled in front of me... what she saw... she showed Shiro?

I blushed, looking away. “O-oh.”

“What you said... how you believe in us, how you knew we could win this war...” He pulled me into a gentle embrace. “Your final words were words of belief in Voltron... I don’t know what else to say other than thank you.... again.” He chuckled.

I pushed back a little to look up at him. His soft features looking down at me made my heart flutter.

“You don’t have to thank me, Shiro. Anyone would have done it.”

He chuckled again, moving to hold me at arms length. “That’s the thing though, most people wouldn’t have done it. They would have called for help, fled, but you... you’re something else.”

His smile turned into a sad looking frown.

“Aleah, I will never forgive myself for leaving you that day. I will never forgive myself for the fight you had to put up on your own, and I will never forgive myself for your heroism... so please, if it isn’t too weird.... and I know it will sound weird but...” I could almost hear his heart pounding while trying to gain the courage for what he wanted to say.

“Shiro, are you alright?” I asked with concern. Whatever he wanted to say must be very important to him. “Whatever it is, you can-“

His eyes snapped back into a deep contact with mine. “Let me promise to protect you from here on out.”

I took a step back. My heart stilled and my jaw dropped. I stayed silent for a second, gaping up at the foot taller man while my thoughts tried to turn themselves into words. “Pr-Protect me?”

He held both of my hands in a strong grip. “What happened before can never happen again. Not just for your sake, but for everyone else as well. The looks on everyone as you lied in my arms.... lifeless. Aleah I’ve been around this kids for quiet awhile, and I’ve never seen them just, shut down like that. If something happened to you...” his grips on my hands tightened as he thought to himself.

I stared up at him? Completely shocked. Maybe I didn’t know what I really meant to this team. Could I really mean this much to everyone? What could I have done to receive such favour from these kids?

“Shiro, I don’t understand.”

He looked down at me, confused. “Understand what?”

I tried to giggle at the awkwardness. “What I’ve done to deserve such an honor...?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

I nodded shyly.

“Wait, no, really really?” He asked again.

I nodded again, getting a little more anxious.

He let go of my arms and chuckled. He sat in his chair and ran his fingers through the tuff of his hair, stopping his hand on the back of his neck.

He looked back up to me with amused eyes. “You’re joking right?”

I blushed, feeling like a child. 

”Pidge... looks up to you. More than physically, but figuratively. You’re this, strong woman character to her. You’re incredibly smart, you’re incredibly strong, you have a sharp wit and stature, and... you’re kind of a bad ass.” He chuckled at his wording. “I mean, sure, there’s Allura but, you’re more of the average woman. You’re not a princess, just a human that has built themselves up to be the being they are today.”

I blushed. “I had no idea she-“

“Lance,” Shiro continued. “well that’s obvious. He loves you to death, you’re like his sister. You both look out for each other and are basically attached at the hip if it wasn’t for Trish. When we went to fight the Galra who did that too you, Ive never seen him fight with such.... fire. He was ready to go to hell and back to avenge you.” I giggled at that. My heart swelling so far. “If it wasn’t for... recent events...” Shiro blushed. “I would be insanely jealous of the attention you give him and would be a little intimidated.”

A gentle smile grew on my face. “Shiro...”

He held up a finger. “Hold on.” He continued. “Allura sees you as the closest thing she has to a real friend. She’s never had anyone to just.... talk to until she met you. She was the first one you warmed up to and she feels like she can trust you with anything. She has always been a giver, at least in the time I’ve known her. I’m sure she’s told you about her father?”

I gave him a sad look and a nod. I knew about how she gave up her father to restore the ship to working order, how he was corrupted and was leading the ship into a black hole.

“It’s nice to know that instead of being the listener, she’s actually able to talk to someone else willing to listen.”

“Hunk on the other hand... man, he loves hearing you talk about your crew. He loves your stories and your “tales of adventure” always fascinates him. They’re like bed time stories to him!”

My eyebrows knit together “how did you know about-“

“Coran” he continued. “Sees you as.... a daughter? A protege? I’m not one hundred percent but the point is, is that he wants you to know you can go to him for anything... absolutely anything. He loves when you ask him how to do things or the history of the ship or Altea. He’s never had a family of his own and now he has all of us!”

I giggled at the idea of getting a family photo for the ship with everyone in it.

“And then of course there’s Keith. He has always been a little... complicated. He kept to himself, held his feelings, never really trusted, well, anyone. He found it easy to warm up to me because he’s looked up to me for so long, but everyone else wasn’t that easy, until you.” He cleared his throat. “When you were lying there, in my arms ... he...”

Shiro sat back in his chairs running his hand threw his hair again and avoiding eye contact with me as he spoke lowly. “He was completely unresponsive. Anything I said to him was like the static of a television... I asked him to get the cryo pod started for you and it took me yelling at him to bring him back to reality. He couldn’t take his eyes off of you. The sheer look of horror on his face...”

He stopped when he noticed me. My hand placed over my mouth and tears threatening to fall. Shiro sighed and stood up, his arms open to me. I walked into him and he wrapped his arms around me as I kept my face against his chest.

“He hates himself right now...” He continued to speak quietly, petting my hair. “He’s angry about how, in your moment of need, he wasn’t there. He wasn’t there when the Galra invaded, and he wasn’t there mentally to hear my orders to start the pod up... I swear that kid could blame himself for anything, but you mean a lot to him. Coming out for him was a lot easier after you talked to him. In fact, a few days after you left the crypo pod, he came out to everyone. He talked to everyone individually and was accepted with open arms.”

I smiled to myself. “I’m so proud of him...” 

He chuckled. “I know you are. That must be why he said you’re the closest thing to a mom he’s ever had.”

I gasped to myself. I felt like that should be weird but all I could feel was, honored? Pride? I didn’t think of him as a son so much as a younger brother, but... the knowledge of knowing I meant so much to him filled my heart.

That thought however was replace with another. I looked back to Shiro with curiosity.

“How do you know all this? How everyone thinks of me?”

He shrugged. “Let’s just say, Black wasn’t the only one in on this.” He motioned to the galaxy a head of us.

I wiped my face, the tears long since started falling.

“I... I don’t know what to say, Shiro, other than thank you.”

He placed a light kiss to my temple. “You come a long way, Aleah. Im so proud of you. You’ve had every reason to give up, and yet you’re still here, stronger then ever.”

“Yeah well, I have you to thank for a lot of that.” I bit my lip and looked away. “I know I’ve been a huge pain in the ass for the past few months, but you were always there to help me.”

Shiro chuckled. “And I always will be, along with everyone else.”

He looked down at me with happy eyes that melted into a soft look. Our faces moves closer together until he had me in a sweet, chaste kiss.

I kept my eyes close for the entire duration of the embrace, savoring the moment as much as I could, even when he pulled away from me.

“We should probably head back.” He spoke in a near whisper. I opened my eyes and saw the same soft look on his face but with a smile. “I shouldn’t keep black this far away from the others.”

I smiled back up at him. “Ok.”

I let him leave my arms and walk back to his seat.

“So...?” I asked him as he sat down.

“So... what?” He looked up to me with an eyebrow raised.

I slowly stepped over to his seat. “You told me what the others think of me... what about you?”

“What about me?”

“What do you think about me?” I gave him a flirty smile.

His eyes widened as a blush formed over his cheeks.

“That’s, probably something to save for another time...” his voice cracked.

I sat down in his lap. “Oh, come on~! You can tell me!”

He cleared his throat. “I really think I shouldn’t. At least, not yet.”

Although understanding what he meant, I found myself enjoying pushing him.

“Aw, don’t tell me you already fell in love with me!” I giggled, poking his cheeks.

“Aleah.” He uses a warning tone.

I found it hard to take him serious with the blush still on his face.

“Oh come on-OH MY GOD!” I squealed when he kicked black into gear, sending us flying back to the castle.

..............................

“You have to tell me eventually!” I joked as we left the lion’s hanger.

“Eventually, just not now.” He smirked at me.

I bumped his shoulder which he returned. A short bumping war broke out before I noticed the others standing in the hall waiting.

“You should all be in bed.” Shiro used his leader voice.

“We couldn’t sleep, we wanted to see Aleah before going to bed.” Lance smiled softly.

My lower lip quivered as I pulled him in first for a big hug.

“You all suck!” I whimpered trying not to cry. “I’m a grown ass woman, I can’t be crying!”

“Well when we found out Black wanted to thank you,” Lance explained. “We thought it was best that Shiro be the one to tell you what you exactly mean to us, as our own thank you.”

“You guys didn’t have too!” I went on to hug Hunk.

“Of course we did!” Hunk chuckled. “You’re the coolest, awesomest person we know! It kind of sucks there aren’t 6 lions, because you’d make a bad ass paladin!”

“Nah,” I joked. “Wouldn’t want to out shine sharp shooter over there.” I winked at Lance as I hugged Allura.

Lance winked back while shooting finger guns at me when I moved on to hug Pidge and Coran.

“None the less,” Coran picked up. “You’re a welcome part of this castle, and as much of an important team mate as any of the Paladins!”

“Exactly,” Allura added. “And although the Paladins have their own weaponry, your melee-long range inventions have been great forms of protection for around the castle.”

“And fun to program too!” Pidge added. “Thanks for the occasional lesson.”

I nodded in her direction with a big smile before turning my head to Keith, just causally leaning against the wall watching with a blank look.

“AND YOU!” I pointed him out. His eyes went wide.

“I-I’m good thanks.”

“Get over here!” I smiled, pulling him into a big hug.

“I.... don’t even know what to say to you!” I giggled.

He chuckled himself before wrapping his arms around me. 

“We shouldn’t have to tell you that you mean a lot to us, you know?” Keith groaned.

“I know, but it’s always a nice thing to be reminded.” I whispered so only he could hear. “... son.”

Keith’s eyes darted to Shiro. “YOU TOLD HER?!”  
..............................

After a long goodnight to the other’s, Shiro insisted he walked me back to my room to talk a little longer.

“You know, you never did answer my question.” He spoke softly, hands folded behind his back as we walked side by side to my bedroom.

“Answered what question?” I asked with my head titled.

He chuckled at my expression. “I asked to let me protect you.”

My eyes widened. “Oh...” I could feel my face heat up. “You were serious.”

His face hardened into a serious look. “Of course I was. Aleah-“

I raised my hands up in the air. “I know, I know. I mean a lot to the team, if something happens to me all productivity will coming to a grinding halt. But let me at least ask you this.” We stopped walking when we reached my door. I turned towards him with a big smirk on my face. “What would “protecting me” entitle exactly.”

Shiro looked to the side as the familiar blush came up again. “Well. It would... I would just watch over you more.”

“Uh huh.” I stepped a little closer. “Go on.”

“I wouldn’t let you walk off the ship alone. Me... or one of the other Paladins... would always be by your side, making sure you’re safe.”

My smirk growing. “Ok.”

“I would have full rights to be worried or be protective of you.”

Shiro was still avoiding eye contact with me while I was figuring something out.

“I will always be available if you need me. Even if it’s just to talk. I’d be here for you. But most importantly,” his eyes locked back to mine. “What happened before will never happen again so long as I’m around.”

I bit my lip as my eyes dropped from his, to the ground.

“So, to reiterate. You’re saying that as my... “protector”... you will be around me more when I’m alone, you’ll be protective over me, and you’ll be emotionally available?” It took alot to control the giant smile forming on my face. “Shiro, are you asking to be my knight or are you asking to be my boyfriend?”

His face reddened as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. He was keeping from making eye contact with me and kept his eyes trained on something down the hall. I waited patiently for an answer.

He eventually broke into a small chuckle. “Would I be stupid,” he finally looked to me. “To ask for both?”

I giggled at how cute he was to me right now, still in his paladin uniform, his handsome crooked smile shining only for me, his look of adoration in his eyes, his muscles in his arms as he kept them folded in front of him. My heart went crazy.

“Well.” I answered him with a sigh. “Of course you understand that... I have some flaws. I have issues I need to work on and I have some... things.... I’m not over yet, that I’m not sure if I’ll ever be over. But,” I smile again. “With the recent events and recent confessions to each other, if I were to try again with anyone I’m glad it would be with you.”

His look of adoration grew into something I couldn’t put my finger on. His mouth hung slightly open, his eyes looked at me in such a positive way of interest, like what I just said surprised him in the best way.

He breathed a laugh and stood up straight.

“Can... can I kiss you?” He asked, still with the look of, what I could only think to call, surprised-adoring-dumbfoundedism.

I giggle and shake my head. “Yes, you can.”

He took two slow steps to me. His hand reaches for my jaw while his other grabs my waist, it was from here that he pulled me into another one of his sweet kisses.

The kiss last for a few seconds before he pulls away.

“Goodnight, Aleah.” He speaks softly while pulling away.

“Goodnight, Shiro.”

I back into my room with my teeth biting my lower lip. Before fully shutting the door, I give Shiro one more glance and wave. He waves back.

I shut the door and listen for his quiet steps to eventually disappear. I placed my finger tips on my lips and think back to his kiss.

Seriously whatever this boy is doing, he should trademark it.


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I NEED IDEAS FOR CHAPTERS! I have big scene ideas that I like, but I need small in between stuff too! I don’t want to keep making time skips! Submit ideas to me please!
> 
> I’ve been suffering a bit of writers block, so I’m aware that this chapter may seem a bit rushed. I was only worried that if I didn’t write EXACTLY when inspiration struck, I would never return to this story and I really love it <3
> 
> I like to do random edits every once and a while so I may come back and reword or even add to it someday!

Chapter 27

-Shiro-

The next morning I was over seeing another training session with my fellow paladins. Getting them up and in the training room was no longer a hassle, but getting them to do team related fighting exercises?

Impossible.

“Hunk,” I sighed pinching the bridge of my nose. “Your goal is for you and Keith to avoid and defeat enemies while using his speed and your strength to your advantage. And Lance, you’re suppose to work with Pidge’s observation and analysis skills with your long range attacks!” I stopped the simulation and shut off the robots. “Fighting individually wont always save you.”

“Well it would help if Keith would stand still long enough to come up with a plan!” Hunk argued.

“Staying in one place just makes it easier to be shot at!” He argues back.

“And it’s not exactly “easy” to predict a moving target!” Pidge joined. “Predictions take time! Patterns! I can’t do that, avoid enemy fire, AND keep Lance from getting killed!”

“I don’t need help!” Lance screamed. “I doing just fine without your help, thank you very much!”

“That’s not the point!” I pulled back their attention. “The point is to work to-geth-er! Not all of our opponents will be easy to overcome on our own. Learning your teammates weaknesses and strengths and how to use them to everyone’s benefit may benefit down the road. We can work well together in our lions, but we have to balance it with our abilities out of the lions.”

“Well weaknesses are easy.” Lance smirked. “Pidge is short, Hunk is a crybaby, and Keith has a mullet.”

The other three turned to Lance, shouting about his observations.

I sighed to myself again. This is ridiculous, without teamwork we can’t form Voltron. This team has over come every challenge... except how to not always depend on the lions... that and standing against more than one opponent, but one step at a time I suppose.

My eyes grew a little bigger as a thought crossed my mind. What if I could kill two birds with one stone? What if the reason I cant teach them is because I’m not the one who should be teaching?

I silently exited the training simulator, unnoticed, while the other paladins continued arguing.

I smiled to myself as I made my way down the hall. These kids were going to learn something today whether they liked it or not.

.......................................

-Lance-

“You want to say that again shorty?” I yelled at Pidge. “Please, grab a ladder and say that to my face!”

“Stop picking on Pidge!” Keith interjected. “We all know that you’re just jealous Pidge HAS a brain!”

“Don’t say that to my buddy!” Hunk stepped in.

“Yeah!” I stood next to Hunk. “We could take you both out!”

“I BET YOU’D LOVE TO TAKE KEITH OUT!” Pidge shot back.

My face flared. “I-Ye-yeah! In a fight! I COULD EASILY TAKE KEITH OUT IN A FIGHT!” I tried to recover.

Keith looked unphased, not noticing Pidge’s intention.

“ID LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY, PRETTY BOY!” Keith yelled back, stepping up to me.

“Guys!” Shiro stepped in.

“ITS ON, HICK-SQUEK!” I stepped closer.

“GUYS!” Shiro tried again.

“WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?” Keith continued to yell.

“HICK-SQUEAK! LIKE PIP-SQUICK! BECAUSE, like Pidge, YOU ARE A VERY SMALL PERSON!”

A loud whistle cut through the atmosphere. The high pitches noise had us covering our ears to avoid deafness.

When the whistle faded to an end, we saw Aleah and Trish standing with a very annoyed Shiro.

“If you’re done,” Shiro’s leader qualities showing. “I’m giving the floor to Aleah now.”

Aleah steps forward, the atmosphere around her was different. She had this strong aura and a leadership like stance that reminded me a lot of Shiro’s. Honestly, it was kind of scary.

“So you’re having issues with teamwork.” She stated more then asked. “We’ll have that fixed before the end of the day.” She smirked.

“What’s... going on?” Hunk asked.

“Well,” Shiro shrugged. “Obviously I couldn’t get through to you, so I thought maybe someone, more experienced in co-op fighting and multi opponents, could step in instead.”

“That’s right.” Trish smirked. “So we’ll start off simple. Push ups.”

“Wh-what?” I stuttered.

“Push ups.” She repeated. “As punishment for insubordination to your leader, we’ll be starting off with 60 push ups from each of you.”

“You can’t be serious.” Keith squinted.

“Oh she is.” Aleah smiled. “Come on now, everyone down. I’ll even join you!”

Aleah went down on to the floor in the push-up ready position, waiting for us.

We all looked at each other cautiously before slowly moving down to mirror her.

She started the second we were all in position and had us counting out loud.

“Oh god!” I groaned as we sped past 45. “It’s like Iverson’s training all over again!”

“Funny you should say that.” Trish chuckled. “Aleah and I will actually be using Iverson’s method for today, so prepare to sweat!” She grinned.

The four of use groaned right before we finished. We stood up and awaited for the next orders. This was going to be hell.

-Aleah-

“You are looking at one of the highest ranked students from the Garrison’s physical course.” I bragged. “I was number one in all areas of physical fitness and training back in my day!” I winked at them.

“Not in all of them.” Shiro muttered, rubbing his neck.

I turned towards him and shot him a glare. He smiled.

“Yes, that is true. Shiro did actually lead the class in strength, but I surpassed in cardio and flexibility, which you’ll be needing for some of our following exercises. I hope you all brought enough water because you will need it!”

........................

An hour into the training session, the team was sweating heavily as they attempted to carry one of their friends.

“Oh my god, Shiro! Make it stop!” Lance begged, with Keith on his back. “She’s killing us!”

“I,” Shiro huffed under Hunk’s weight. “Have to do it too! Just- huff- keep going for a little longer.”

“One more lap! You guys can do it!” I cheered from Pidge’s back. “After this, everyone can take a break!”

“Thank god.” Keith groaned, still out of breath from carrying Lance earlier. “Lance is sweating up a flood over here. He stinks.”

“Whatever man, I’ve been told my sweat makes me smell sexy!”

“How can you “smell” sexy?” Keith rolled his eyes.

“Easily. You’ve been doing it this whole time, haven’t you?” Lance chuckled, crossing the finish line. “AND DONE!”

Raising his arms in victory, Keith fell to the floor with a thud.

“DAMN IT, LANCE!” Keith shouted from the ground.

.......................................

-Hours later-

-Shiro-

Training was finally over. I may have dug my own grave when I asked Aleah and Trish to run today’s training, but it was quiet the teamwork exercise that everyone needed.

Lance, Keith, and I finished our showers first so we sat in the main room alone with the exception of Keith who went to bed. We were slouched onto the couch talking about how much pain we’d be in tomorrow.

“You’re girlfriend was trying to kill us!” Lance groaned. “What did we do to make her hate us so much?!”

“She’s doesn’t hate us.” I chuckled. “Aleah went through a different form of training then most students in the garrison, main reason being Dwight.”

“What would Dwight have to do with anything?”

“He was from New Zealand.” Aleah’s voice entered the room.

We tried our best to greet her without turning our necks.

“His heritage can be traced back to the Māori tribes,” she continued when she joined us on the couch, placing herself close to me. “You guys talking about me behind my back?” She smirked.

“Just about HOW MUCH OF A DEMON YOU ARE!” Lance fumed.

She giggled. “Oh please, one day of this will do you fine.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “What do those tribe people have to do with that hell you inflicted on us?”

“The Māori were famous for being strong self built warriors. As generations passed, their heritage and traditions were passed down, even their training. Dwight was trained from a young age to be built like his father, and his father before him, and his father before him, and so on.” I shrugged. “So when we came together as a team, it seemed only right that our leader trained us to be the very best. Which included the harsh training of the Māori.”

“That’s what that was?” Hunk enters the room. “You were training us like New Zealand soldiers?! That’s pretty sweet!” Hunk sat down on the couch with us. “Can we learn the haka tomorrow? Wait do you know the haka?”

She shook her head with a grin. “No, sorry Hunk. I think Dwight did but-“

“You two are sitting awfully close.” Pidges voice startled her from behind.

Her face redden.

“O-oh are we?” She stutters scooting away. “Sorry Shiro, I know you can’t move too much and all, haha. I just got so excited talking about weird stuff again.” She giggled nervously.

I chuckled nervously. “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t even notice.”

The doors slid open behind us as Allura and Coran casually walked in. They smiled a greeting before joining us around the couch.

“Trisha has informed us about the success in your training today! Glad to see you made something work, Shiro.”

“Well that’s all thanks to the terrible two.” He motioned to me. “Although, I do admit that their idea of training isn’t the kind that I’m very use to anymore.”

“I’ll admit it too,” I added. “We haven’t really done that kind of training in a while either... in fact I’m a little worried that we may have messed a thing up or two...” she chuckled nervously.

“WHAT?!” Lance whaled.

“YOU COULDVE KILLED US!” Pidge screamed.

She rolled her eyes. “Oh please, at worse you’ll be a little stiff everyday. Just be sure to stretch every morning and you’ll be fine!”

“Well, I guess that means we’ll have to find a way to incorporate it into our daily training then.” I shrugged. “It definitely helped with the initial problem...”

“What?! No way!” Hunk cried. “Sure being trained as a warrior is cool but EVERYDAY?!”

“Yeah, have you TRIED to pick up Hunk before?!” Pidge added. “Do you see how tiny I am?”

“Or that that much sweating is going to be so gross!” Lance included.

The complaints went on and on as Aleah and I looked at each other and burst into laughter.

..............................

_“No please..... wake up.... PLEASE! I NEED YOU!”_

_“Shiro.... she’s gone.....” Allura’s gentle voice spoke in the darkness._

_“N-No.... she can’t be..... She just needs to-“_

_“SHIRO! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!...... THERES NOTHING WE CAN DO!....” Lance’s voice screamed through the empty void._

_‘This can’t be happening.... this can’t be happening.....’_

_The darkness clears a little and I’m sitting on the floor. Tears pouring down my face and a cold heavy weight draped on my arms that I clung to for dear life._

_“... this can’t be happening... I promised it wouldn’t happen...”_

_The weight was Aleah. Her wound on her stomach was wide open with her blood emptied out of her body around us. She was lifeless. She wasn’t breathing. She was gone._

_We were alone in a cold dark hallway, only the two of us were illuminated in the eerie corridor, but the voices of my companions became whispers around us._

_“We were too late, Shiro.” Keith growled. “I’m sorry.”_

_.... I’m sorry.... those two words flew around me in the voices of my friends. I couldn’t remove my eyes from her lifeless form._

_My stomach was in a knot. This didn’t feel right, this wasn’t right... I was so sure she made it... WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!_

_..._

_Her eyes..._

_I didn’t notice before but her eyes, open although blank, staring straight up at me. She looked up at me with a look of betrayal and pain. Her final emotion forever molded on her face. Her final emotion that I, her sworn protector.... failed her..._

_Then I heard it. A scream from the far far far end of the hallway. I looked up towards the source. Nothing could be seen but utter darkness. The scream never stopped. It was dragged out, whoever it was must have been miles away from us._

_Something told me it was Aleah’s scream._

_Then, as the scream continued, it started moving. Getting louder and louder as it got closer and closer as if someone was running down the hall screaming at the top of their lungs._

_My heart sped up, I saw nothing but the shrill kept getting closer and closer and closer! The sound was approaching me quickly, I braced myself as it was about to collide with me-!_  
................................

A deep gasp entered my lungs as I shot up. I quickly clung onto my nearest surrounding as I looked around frantically. The voice was gone and so was Aleah.

“Aleah?!” I desperately called out for her.

Silence.

I then started to notice where I was. I was in my room and what I was clinging too was the sheets of my bunk.

“Aleah?!” I called again.

Adrenaline brought me to my feet. It was obviously a nightmare, it had to have been a nightmare. But it felt so real...

None the less, I realized I had to see her. I had to confirm that what I just experienced was one of the many nightmares I’m prone too and had to go see her. I had to confirm to myself that she was ok.

In just my sweat pants, I marched out of my room in the middle of the night and down the hall.

 _‘It was just a nightmare! It was just a nightmare!’_ I kept repeating to myself to help calm me down. _‘It was just a nightmare, it was just a ni-‘_

My blood ran cold and I stopped in my tracks.

Her room. No, her old room.

The door was still scorched and blasted open from the attack a week or two ago. Her room was a char black from the blasts that shot into her room.

I remember passing that door when we first came back and immediately expected the worse. Only upon inspection of her room that day did I realize that only Galra died here.

I remember that day so vividly, yet this room only made my fears worse. Something in me suggested that she did die in that room, that everything else was just a dream...

I took off into a run to her new room. Allura’s old bedroom.

Now a part of me was being realistic and did identify that what I experienced was a nightmare, but the unrealistic part was screaming and shouting over the other part of me.

I didn’t bother knocking, I didn’t bother stopping, I typed in her passcode for her bedroom and the door let me in.

The passcode she set after moving into the room, she was still here... but I needed to see her.

I expected to see her asleep, to see her quiet frame slowly rising and falling as she took gentle breaths in her sleep as she was graciously allowed to dream. What I didn’t expect to see was her empty bed.

It was still made as if she never slept in it.

_‘What is going on?! Where is she?!’_

The irrational side of me was over bearing all rational thought and thinking I had. I could only stand there and stare at her bed as my heart just kept racing and racing and raci-

“Shiro?” Her voice came from behind.

I quickly spun around, startling her from across the room. She was at the door of her bathroom in her night gown with a tooth brush in hand.

“Shiro what are you doing up this late?”

I could only stare at her as my heart began to calm down.

_‘She’s fine. I knew it! She’s fine!’_

“Shiro....?” She placed her tooth brush aside and slowly stepped towards me. “You look terrified are you ok?” She asked carefully.

The breath I had locked in my chest was finally let out into a long, relieved breath. I quickly approached her and wrapped my arms around her waist.

“Yes...” I sighed as I relaxed my chin on the top of her head. “Yes I am now.”

“Shiro, you’re scaring me.” She lightly pushed away from me. “Did something happen? You look like you saw a ghost...”

“I just... needed to see you is all.”

I could tell by her face that she knew I was lying.

“You had another nightmare didn’t you?”

I smiled weakly at her. “I did... it was about you and you weren’t waking up and then there was this loud scream and.... could you please do that thing...”

“Thing?” She raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah, that.. thing from before?”

It took her a second before she understood but she shook her head and placed her hands on both sides of my face, making me look directly at her. Her thumbs lightly glided over the sides of my head as she began to message them.

“You’re ok... you’re ok...” she began her mantra. “Look into my eyes, It’s just me and you here, I’m right here, I’m ok and you’re ok. Just breath. Everything is fine, it was only a bad dream.”

She repeated her mantra until I was finally able to recover and my heart was down to a normal beat level.

“Better?” She giggled.

I placed my forehead against hers, holding both of her hands in place.

“Yes... thank you.”

“Good.” She slipped her hands from under mine. “Now care to tell me exactly what happened in this nightmare that had you breaking into my room?” She smirked.

My eyes left hers as I thought if I should bring it up again or not.

“You don’t want to talk about it.” She observed. “That’s ok. Why don’t we just get you back to bed then?”

Her hand slipped into mine. She took one step before I lightly tugged on her hand. I didn’t want to leave her, not right now.

“Actually... would I be asking too much if I asked to...” I felt so awkward.

“Asked to...?” She gently encouraged me.

“Can I sleep here tonight, with you?” I cringed internally at how childish I must sound.

Her shocked eyes melted into a gentle look and smile.

“Well duh, that’s what I meant in the first place.” She giggled. “Now come on.” She pulled me towards her bed.

“Thank you...” I quietly mumbled.

She pulled me to her bed and allowed me to get comfortable while she turned the light off in the bathroom.

The moment she was lying in bed next to me, I took no hesitation as I pulled her in close. She giggled at the advance.

“Is this ok?” I asked out of courtesy.

She laughed quietly to herself. “Goodnight, Shiro. Try to get some sleep.”

I chuckled too. “I’ll try. Goodnight.”


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

-Aleah-

What felt like two weeks passed. The paladins continued incorporating parts of our training into their routine and saving the universe. 

Trish and I, meanwhile, continued our own day to day routine around the castle. Fixing things, accidentally breaking things, fixing them again, and training of our own.

Every once and a while, Trish would run off to hang out with Pidge and I would run off to see what Lance was up too. Shiro and I didn’t spend too much time together during the day, he being the busy person that he is. When we did meet up, it would be late in the day when we could to talk about our day and whatever else may be on our mind. It would only be when our talks ran too late that we would offer our bed to the other.

We were still testing the waters with our relationship and still keeping it to ourselves but I had a feeling some people were catching on...

“So, Aleah?” Hunk asked me from his lying position on the floor.

“What’s up?”

We just finished a private training session that I asked to join him in. We were so exhausted afterwards that we ended the simulation and just lied where we fell, catching our breaths.

“So I just have to ask,” he started carefully. “Are you and Shiro...?”

My blood ran cold. I looked over to him with my most convincing smile.

“A-Are we, what?”

He circled his two pointer fingers in a rolling motion. “Are you two, like... together?”

My mind started to run through ideas of what to say. Should I deny it? No, that’ll be lying and Shiro wouldn’t like that. Should I admit it? Are we ready to have everyone know? I feel like I should talk this over with Shiro first, but I’m being thrown on the spot!

“Because, it’s ok if you are!” He assured me. “Honestly, if you were together I would say it’s about time!” He chuckled.

When I didn’t respond right away, he at me. I could tell he was searching my face for a statement.

“Aleah? Areeeee you ok?”

I shook myself out of it. “Yeah I’m fine just,” I smiled softly. “What gave it away?”

A big smiled formed on his face at my response. “Well you two have been really sneaky lately. If I were to ask Shiro where he was the previous night he would get all defensive. And of course Lance has been giving him a hard time about you two but Shiros been handling it a lot better.”

I giggled to myself at the idea of Lance constantly messing with Shiro.

“That and I may or may not have caught you two mid kissy kissy before.” He looked at me with a mischievous look.

“HUNK!” I laughed.

“Relax I won’t tell anyone!” He swore. “Does anyone else know?”

“Just Trish and Lance.”

He gasps. “YOU TOLD LANCE BUT NOT ME??” He began to fake cry. “I thought we had something, Aleah!”

I started laughing again. “In my defense, I didn’t tell him. Trish did.”

“I’m so out of the loop.” He groaned. “I feel like everyone has their own little groups. Trish has you and Pidge. You have Shiro and Lance. I... occasionally have Pidge? I don’t know, it seems like Trish has been around her a lot lately.”

A small frown took over. “Hunk that’s not true. We’re not split into individual groups. Everyone has everyone ok?” I sat up and threw one of the soft body armor pads at him. “STOP BEING EMO!”

He erupted into laughter again. “Alright alright. Sorry. But you have to admit, I do seem to be the last one to know things these days...”

A thought came to my mind that I believed could make Hunk feel better. I fully sat up with my legs crossed.

“Do you want to know a secret?” I tempted him. “One that only Trish may or may not know... if she even remembers.”

He sat up and looked at me with interest. “Go on~?”

I looked around the training hall to make sure there were no unwanted listeners. When I saw the coast was clear, I leaned in a little closer to Hunk with my voice low.

“Back at the garrison...” I whispered. “I may have had a small crush on Shiro.”

He gasped. “WHAT?!”

I giggled and shushed him.

“What about Dwight?” He whispered back.

I rolled my eyes playfully. “That dork was well aware. You see, we didn’t get mad at the other for thinking someone else was attractive. We understood that attraction is something no human can stop, as long as we still loved each other and were completely devoted, we were allowed to look, as long as we didn’t touch...” I winked.

~Flashback~

-Garrison, Aleah and Shiro’s final year-

We just began our first day of our last year at the garrison. Trish and I were walking side by side around the cafeteria discussing our classes.

“Gun tech?” Trish asked. “Since when did they start sending them into space?”

I shrugged. “All I know is they’re preparing us for a select team to go on a mission at the end of the year... I was chosen to join the class.”

“What about ship mechanics?”

I shrugged again. “Maybe it’s better this way. They clearly must have seen something in me to want to change my specialty.”

She looked unsure. “Still, I would get that looked into.”

Trish was then violently pushed into me from behind, sending our books flying all over the place.

“What the fu-!”

“Sorry!” A soft voice squealed from the ground.

Upon closer look, along on the floor with Trish was Matt Holt, another student in our year. He ran right into Trish, knocking her over.

“What the hell happened?!” She groaned as she began to gather her books.

Matt’s face began to dance shades of red as he struggled for an explanation. “Well I was walking with- I wasn’t looking where I was going but then Shiro tried to warn me- I may have over stepped a bit when I saw it was you I was about to run into- not that I wouldn’t have dodged if it wasn’t you, but since it was you I tried... I mean... sorry, I’m really really sorry!”

At this point Matt was helping Trish gather her books back together.

“It’s fine don’t worry about it. It was an accident.” She sighed.

“Are you girls ok?” Another voice spoke beside me.

I jumped in surprise.

“Oh my god, please don’t sneak up on me!” I clutched my chest.

“Oh geez, I’m sorry. Me and my friend just seem to be bad luck for you girls today!”

Was that...?

“Takashi Shirogane?” I asked him.

He raised an eyebrow. “Um... yeah.. just Shiro is fine though... you’re Aly right?”

I nodded slowly. “Y-yeah thats What everyone calls me. Geez I almost didn’t recognize you...”

He looked confused still. “Why’s that?”

I awkwardly motioned to his arms. “You.... changed a lot.”

Trish finally stood back up with her arms full of our books again.

“Holy shit, you did!” She added.

He looked down to his arms, trying to see what we meant.

“Oh!” He chuckled. “Yes I do suppose I did work out quiet a bit over the break. And I did get my hair cut differently.”

“You look good- I mean it looks good! You definitely got a whole... thing going on.” I chuckled back awkwardly.

“Thanks!” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You look great too!”

“You hitting on my girl, Shirogane?” Dwight rounded the corner, instantly putting an arm around my waist.

Shiro nervously tried to explain himself while Matt and Trish looked on amused before Dwight cut him off with his signature deep laugh.

“Come down man, I’m just messing with you. I know she’s gorgeous.” He pulled me closer to him, making me giggle.

“Would you stop!” I slapped his arm. “Babe, don’t you think Shiro looks kind of hunky now? Someone’s been working out~!” I sang.

Shiro blushes awkwardly as Dwight looked him over. “Well, shit man look at you! You did gain a bit of muscle! You’re going to be running from the girls as a cardio workout!” He joked.

The signal for our courses to begin rang throughout the school.

“Shit, we have to go.” Dwight nudged Shiro. “We’re both in pilots course 5, right? We better head off.”

Dwight quickly placed a peck on my lips. “Have fun in class babe. I’ll see you tonight!”

I giggled and picked him back. “You too, but don’t have too much fun!”

........................

“And Dwight didn’t care?” Hunk asked.

I shook my head. “He understood that I just thought Shiro was really attractive and nice. At the end of the day I was still Dwight’s and he was still mine, so there was no need for us to get jealous. He did tease me for it a lot though.” I giggled.

“And what about Trish and Matt?” Hunk wiggles his eyebrows. “I was sensing that you may have put a lot of emphasis on them for a reason.”

I laughed again. “Yes, you got me! Trish maaaaay have had a crush on Matt.... maybe...”

Hunk squealed. “Oh my god you have to be kidding me! That’s adorable! That’s like... the head cheerleader and the nerd!”

“Cheerleader?” I snorted. “She’s a wallflower at best!”

“Either way!” Hunk laughed again. “Anything happen between them?!”

I shook my head. “Not to my knowledge. They had a project or two together but once she was put in medical they didn’t really see much of each other.”

“So what did she see in him then?”

“Well, I guess you could say that with her being single and cute, a lot of really douchey guys were hitting on her. Matt was one of the only ones who didn’t. He was always really shy around her and I guess she thought that was cute.” I shrugged.

“I’m getting ALL the best stories here!” Hunk laughed. “TELL ME MORE!”

I giggled at the excitement in his voice and opened my mouth to speak only to cut off by a loud crashing noise and a shift in room throwing us both against the wall.

The ship almost immediately stabilized and it wasn’t long until Allura’s voice could be heard over the intercom.

“WE ARE UNDER ATTACK BY GALRA SHIPS, PALADINS TO YOUR LIONS, MECHANICS TO THE CONTROL ROOM!”

“Shit!” I yelled scrambling to my feet. “Hunk are you alright?!”

Hunk was already half way out the door.

“Fine! Just get to the control room and stick to the walls!”

I followed him out the room and down the hall, running as fast as our feet could take us.

“Hunk!” Shiro’s voice yelled from behind as he joined us running down the hall. “We’ve got what looks like 15 fighters and 1 giant homing ship. Particle barrier won’t hold up for much long-“

Another tilt of the ship crashed Shiro right into my side and shoved me against the wall.

“Ah, son of a-“ Shiro groaned as he forcefully pushed himself off me and away from the wall.

He uttered a quick sorry, helped me back on my feet and took off again with me right behind them.

There turn was coming up and the control room was straight ahead.

“SHIRO!” I yelled after them. “BE CAREFUL!” 

“I WILL!” He yelled back.

I wasted no time in continuing my hustle to meet with Allura, Coran, and Trish in the main room.

“Girls, I need one in damage observation and one on damage repair!” Allura commanded.

“Aleah, damage repair! Trish you stay with us!” Coran dictated.

“Got it!” We said.

Trish ran to a monitor and looks over the analysis of the ship, her eyes quickly surveyed everything before looking back at me.

“We have an overheated stabilizer in sector 8! Keep your walkie on!”

“On it!” I turned on my heels and ran to my destination, sticking to the walls as best as I could.

I was thrown around and did a lot of running and hasty repairs for what felt like hours until the battle was over and we were out of harms way.

“Voltron has reigned victorious, we’re safe.” Allura’s voice rang through the intercom. “You girls rest up.”

I sighed and stood up on my wobbling legs. I was already sore from all the shaking and running so the idea of a soft bed called to me from across the ship. I took as many short cuts as I could until I finally reached my room and passed out on my bed.

~~30 minutes later~~

I was in what I thought was a very deep sleep until the distant sound of beeping in the hallway and the swish of my door sliding open brought me back to consciousness.

“Oh shi-.... sorry!” Shiro whispered in the dark. “I’ll come back when you’re awak-“

I groaned. “Shiro?” I didn’t dare to move from the comfort of my bed.

“Hey... sorry about that. I didn’t think you’d fall asleep so quickly.”

“It’s fine.” I sighed, finally deciding to sit up. “Come here.” I sleepily opened my arms out to him.

He gave a dry laugh and approached my open arms. He sat on the bed and used one arm to pull me into him, leaning my head on his hard shoulder. He must still be wearing his armor.

“Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to change yet. I just wanted to come check on you.” He gently stroked my back.

I didn’t say anything, only gave a sleepy moan against him. He laughed again and held me tighter with both arms.

“I wanted to check on you after basically crushing you in the hall. How are you feeling?”

“... sore... a lot running and fix...ing...”

“Alright,” he chuckled. “I’m going to let you sleep and ill go change.”

He gently placed me back down in my bed and pulled the covers over me.

“Come back...” I whispered quietly, my eyes shut and my mind drifting to sleep. He probably didn’t hear me.

I couldn’t hear his response, or if he even did respond. I just heard the door slide shut, and I was out.

...............................

“...... manage to get bruised so much?” A quite voice asked in the dark.

“What?” I moaned.

“I said...” Shiro’s light voice came out clearer. “How did you managed to get so many bruises?”

I suddenly sat up, realizing I’ve been asleep for who knows how long.

“Woah, haha are you alright?”

My eyes slowly open. I took a look over my room until it landed on a clock. 6 hours I’ve been asleep.

Shiro softly grasped my forearm. I looked back at his lounging, shirtless form in my sheets. He had a soft concerned smile on his face.

“Aleah, are you alright?”

He did hear me last night when I asked him to come back. But I don’t remember hearing him walk into my room and laying next to me.

I didn’t respond and only lied back down on my side and against his chest.

“You must have been exhausted last night.” He softly caressed my arm.

“I was. Hunk and I were training a bit before the attack, and then I had to run all over the ship in 7 different sectors doing mid battle repairs, not to mention being tossed around like a ping pong ball.”

“Yeah, I can tell. You’re covered in bruises.”

I made a mental note to take a look at myself, but chose to do it later since my eyes refused to open.

“Not important. Were you guys ok?”

“Don’t say that. But yes, we’re fine. Hunk must have been exhausted too because he skipped the report to Allura and went straight to bed. Pidge and Lance got into a little argument over tactics but nothing team breaking.”

“And you?” I raised my eyebrows with my eyes still closed.

He chuckled with his dry ‘just woke up’ voice. “I’m fine.”

“Good.” I snuggled closer into his chest.

“I have to get up soon for training, you know?”

“......”

“Aleah?”

“.....”

“Oh, you are so faking it.”

I snuggled more into him, pushing him on his back and lied my head on his chest.

“Oh, come on Aleah! That’s not fair!”

I sleepily giggled and stayed where I was until I fell back asleep.

-20 minutes later-

-Shiro’s POV-

I slid out from underneath a passed out Aleah, careful not to wake her up and quietly walked into her bathroom to take a shower.

After cleaning up, I gave her sleeping form a kiss on her temple and quietly slipped out the door.

“I knew it.” Pidge’s snarky voice made me jump and quickly turn to face her.

“Pidge! .... Hi! I was just.... checking on Aleah, making sure she was ok from the attack last night!”

“And used her shower while you were at it?” She pointed to my still wet hair.

“No, I took a shower before I came to her room.” I tried calmly.

“Uh huh, and you brought your pjs with you to her room?” She pointed to the folded up laundry in my arms.

“I-I went straight to her room after I showered and was going to after I said hi.”

“Even though you would have had to pass at least 3 laundry shoots on the way from the showers to her room?”

She had me cornered.

“I-.... I just thought-“

She quickly waved her hand at me. “Shiro, please. Don’t insult my intelligence. You two have been sneaking around for the past few weeks and it’s not hard to notice. Even Lance is starting to notice.”

She looked up at me with unimpressed eyes, waiting for my response.

“Actually, Lance does know... he’s known for quite a while.”

“And you two have been keeping it a secret?”

I shrugged. “We, wanted to see how things would go between us before making anything official.”

“And?” Pidge began walking me down the hall.

“Well, things have been great so far.”

I don’t know what made me want to clue Pidge in on everything. Maybe it was our built bond from Voltron, or maybe her close likeness to Matt, but I easily told her anything she wanted to know.

“Things have just been so hectic lately with sudden battles, and saving planets, and training... we only really have time for each other at night. Even then we’re both exhausted and it’s not long before one of us passes out.”

“So you haven’t had a chance for anything physical?”

I felt my face heat up.

“Oh, so you have become physical?” Her nonchalant tone asked, making me stutter more.

“W-Well... maybe just o-once... but that was weeks ago... we’ve just been so- why am I talking to you about this, you’re a kid!” I blushed, stopping in the hall to throw my clothes down a laundry shoot.

“Yes, well, this “kid” is probably the most mature person on this ship may I remind you.” She nudged me with a smirk.

“That is true, you do have your brothers sense of maturity.”

“Better even. I don’t start blubbering when it comes to the opposite sex.” She chuckled to herself.

“That... is actually true.” I joined laughing.

“Who all knows?” She asked.

“I think just you, Trish, and Lance.”

“Allura must know too. She has those all seeing mice.”

I face palmed. “Ah, that’s right.”

“And Hunk.”

“Hunk?”

“Yup! She told me yesterday!” Hunk piped up from behind us. “Well she didn’t tell me, I figured it out and then she came clean.”

“Great, so everyone but Coran and Keith? Or do they know too?”

Hunk and Pidge looked at each other and shrugged.

“They might actually be clueless.” Hunk said.

“But since everyone else knows, now may be a good time to tell them.” Pidge added.

I pinched the bridge of my nose as we approached the training hall.

“I’ll.... have to talk things over with Aleah first. You guys need to remember that this isn’t easy for her. She’s taking a second chance at all of this and we need to give her the time she needs.”

“We know, we know...” they sighed.

........................

-Aleah-

I finally awoke to an empty bed hours later. That jerk must have sneaked off after all. How dare he take my source of comfort... although I did sleep all this time without him.

“Either way, how rude...” I mumbled to myself.

I decided to get out of bed and begin my day-.... afternoon. I’ll get dressed and report to Allura for anything needing to be done around the ship.

.................

Walking down the halls of the ship, I thought it would be a good idea to check on Trish first. I haven’t heard from her since the last location she gave me during the attack the previous night, and thought it best to go check on her.

“Trish.” I knocked on her door. “You in there?”

I was met with silence.

“Trish-ah!” I spoke in Korean. “Get your ass us it’s time to-“

The door slid open. I was greeted with a completely dark room and a terrible looking Trish. She had bags under her eyes and a slightly slumped posture. Her hair was a mess and that’s saying something with how thick her hair is.

“Holy...” I continued in Korean. “What happened to you? Did you sleep at all?”

“No, couldn’t sleep.”

“Nightmares?” I scowled.

“I’ll be fine, just let me get a shower and I’ll meet you in the command center.”

She pushed passed me. I called out to her to stop.

“Maybe you should take the day off. I can handle everything today.”

“I said I’m fine, Aleah. Just drop it and let’s go.”

“O...Kay...” I reluctantly followed her in silence.

Something was defiantly up with her.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t have time to read over the chapter after I wrote it. It’s 2am and I have work tomorrow, but I will edit it soon enough!

Chapter 29

Trish has been acting weird all day. First she refuses to tell me what’s wrong. Then she tells me that she would rather do our work separate to speed things along. Finally, I run into Hunk who tells me she’s being just as cold to anyone else. I began to assume she just had a nightmare and just needed her space.

Her nightmares were usually filled with the insect infecting our friends and chasing her down the halls of our ship. She would tell me the play by play she would see of her ripping into her friends, and infecting them into the same state. In some dreams she infected me too, in others she ends herself before the little demon could get to far in her brain.

It was true she is no stranger to vivid nightmares, but to be this stand off-ish to everyone or even to me? Something was a little strange. Either way, I elected to give her the space she needed and let her come to me.

“Hey, are you alright?” A soft voice rounded behind me. Shiro’s voice.

He was walking past me and dragged his hand across the small of my back, leaving it on my side as he rounded me to my other side.

“Oh um...” he caught me off guard. “Yeah, I’m just a little worried about Trish is all.” I admired to him, looking up at his taller stature.

“She still not talking?” I shook my head. I could feel his thumb caress my back and he smiled with sympathy. “Don’t worry, she’ll come around and talk about it eventually.”

I nod my head. “I hope so. I don’t like her keeping it in like this.”

He chuckled into my ear, placing a kiss on my temple. “No one can hold things forever. I got you to talk didn’t I?” 

I nudged him in the ribs, giggling at the irony. “I guess you did, but I don’t have nearly as much charisma as you do.”

His other hand moved up to my check and gently caressed my cheek bone with his thumb. “You have plenty of charisma babe.”

I pulled back from him with furrowed eyebrows. “What did you just call me?”

His face heat up in a red tint. “I didn’t call you anything.”

I stepped back closer to him with a mischievous smirk. “You called me babe.”

He blushed harder. “Sorry, too soon?”

My eyes drop to his lips as I shook my head. “No, you’re fine...”

I pushed my self up in his caress to place a light kiss on his lips before deciding that one wasn’t enough. I pushed myself up to give him another, slightly longer one.

He eventually obliged and just leaned down a little and let me use his vest to pull him closer. His arms tightened around me, pulling me flush against him and he assisted in a much deeper kiss.

We haven’t kissed like this in a while. I used my grip around the sides of his neck while he used his around my waist to pull me closer.

The passion lite a fire inside me, a heat the grew through out my body and what seem to be Shiro’s too because before I knew it, Shiro had me against a wall with our tongues fighting.

His small squeeze on my side drove me crazy. One of my hands left the grip on his neck and went down to his muscular human arm and squeeze the firm muscle.

“Aw! Isn’t that cute!” Lances voice startled us from down the hall.

Shiro launches himself off of me, leaving me a shocked frozen mess with a red face that didn’t compare to Shiro’s.

I groaned. “What do you want Lance?”

He raised his hands up in defense. “Allura just wanted me to come find Shiro is all,” he turned to walk away “but I guess I’ll just tell her he’s waaaaaaaay to busy with you to-“

Shiro sighed. “I’m coming.” He looked back to me with a sincere smile. “I’ll talk to you later alright?”

I smiled back and nodded. “See ya.”

He sweetly smiled and waved before turning to follow Lance down the hall.

After a few seconds of watching Shiro walk away and staring at his ass, I realized that..... I wanted him. Badly.

...............................

-Shiro-

After the brief meeting with Allura, who simply wanted to compliment me on my efforts to bond the team as well as we have, Lance and I were walking down the hallways on the way to our rooms.

“So things seem to be going well with Aleah.” He nudged me. “Now you crazy kids don’t always mess around in the open so you?”

“Lance, cut it out.” I glared at him before smiling again. “But yes, things have been going pretty great. I do admit that it has been a little hard only meeting at the end of the day, us being busy and all, but it’s nice.”

“Just meeting huh?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Lance.” I warned him. 

He burst into laughter at my expression. “Calm down man, I’m messing with you. I’m honestly glad to see you making her so happy.” The smile on his face faded to a softer more sincere one. “It’s weird that I’ve connected with her so quickly but she reminds me a lot of my younger sisters. Strong, sassy, foreign beauty!” He joked. “She’s really been there for me and I’m happy knowing that someone can be there for her.”

I lightly placed my hand on his shoulder. “Lance, that’s very noble of you to see it that way.”

He chuckled to himself before continuing. “Yeah, but it’s because I see her as a sister that the idea of her being hurt, or anyone hurting her, doesn’t settle well with me.” He turned to me with the same sincere smile. “I honestly don’t know what I’d do if anyone were to hurt her. Emotionally or physically. I feel like that I wouldn’t be able to control myself if even someone close to me hurt her.” He raised an eyebrow with the same smile. “Get what I’m saying, man?”

My eyes widen at his meaning before I started to laugh slightly. “I hear you loud and clear buddy. If I ever hurt her, I want you to kick my ass. Alright?”

He rolls his eyes before laughing again. “I highly doubt you ever would, but I’m glad we have an understanding.”

A small grunt down an attached hallway caught our attention. Coming towards us was Aleah with a lot of metal pieces and tools in her arms.

She groaned when a hammer slipped and fell to the ground.

-Lance-

“Here, I got that!” Shiro dashed to the rescue. He bent down and picked up the hammer and grabbed some things out of her arms.

“Oh Shiro, thank god. I thought I was going to drop something on my foot.” She huffed.

“No problem. Need help? Where are you heading?”

“Well most of this is just going into the closet over there, the rest needs to be returned to Pidge and Hunks hanger. Could you possibly...?” She nudged her foot to a nearby door.

“Oh... of course!” He swung the door open for her and let her slip buy. A lot of metal clanging could be heard in the room before Aleah popped back out with her free arms buy her side and a tool box clutched in one hand.

“Thank you so much Hero, your my Shiro-I mean Shiro your my hero.” She groaned. “Sorry I’m exhausted. I’m cleaning up the generator room and I didn’t want to make more then one trip.”

“Well, you seemed to have handled it nicely at least.” Shiro chuckled sarcastically.

“Yeah haha, anyway I’m glad I ran into you, Shiro.” She leaned against the door frame on the side closes to Shiro and looked up to him. I could tell her was freaking out in the inside from the closeness.

“Y-yes?”

“Would you mind possibly...” She but her lip staring at the ground shyly. “Possibly meeting in my room in an hour or two?”

His eyes furrowed. “Yeah, no problem. Is something wrong?”

“No! No.... I just want to talk is all.” She smiled sweetly at him. “See you later?”

“Yeah, no problem! I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Thanks.” She slipped her hand around his upper arm and pulled herself up to give him a kiss on the cheek. The squeeze on his arm did not go in noticed by me.

“Hey Lance!” She greeted me as she walked passed. I returned the greeting and waited for her to turn the corner before quickly turning to Shiro and playfully punching him in the gut.

“You sly dog!” I chuckled.

“What?”

“What do you mean ‘what?’ I saw what just happened there!” I leaned closer to him and lowered my voice. “You seem to be in for it.”

He raised an eyebrow. “In for what?”

Wait. Was he serious?

I pulled back. “Seriously?” I was unimpressed. “No.... seriously?”

“Seriously what?” He seemed confused.

“She doesn’t want to ‘talk’ you know that right?”

His eyes widened at my meaning. “I highly doubt that’s what she meant, Lance.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh come on! Did she bit her lip?”

“I don’t kno-“

“YES SHE DID! Did her eyes look dilated to you?”

“Well yes, but that can be anythin-“

“The gentle squeeze she gave to your arm?! Dude she total wants you!”

He looked at me annoyed. “Lance just because she did that doesn’t mean anything... I don’t think that would be any of your business anyway.”

I snorted a laugh and wave my fingers to him. “I know women, Shiro. So you go enjoy yourself, and I’m going to go play games with Pidge.” Once I was further down the hall, I turned to yell back to him. “You’ll see what I mean! I know my stuff!”

I continued marching down the hall and groaned in annoyance. I’m sitting here alone, a great looking guy like me, and Shiro is the one getting laid... don’t get me wrong, Shiro is a great looking guy... but I should have a bed buddy by now too shouldn’t I?”

“What’s your problem?” A familiar voice I’m come to befriend asked.

“Oh, it’s you Keith... nothing, Shiro can just be dense sometimes.”

Keith started to join me in my walk down another hall. “Aleah again?”

“Yeah.”

“Those two seriously just need to have a talk. I get that she’s been through stuff but I know Shiro is a great guy. They deserve each other.”

I turned to him with a bewildered look. “Do you not know-.... nevermind.”

He looked back with a look that mirrored mine. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s none of my business to tell you.” I started walking faster.

“Don’t tell me they’re already together.”

“I didn’t say anything.” I started to walk faster.

“Lance get back here and talk to me!” He chuckles as he tried to keep up.

“MY LIPS ARE SEALED!” I break into a full run down the hallway with a laughing Keith coming up behind me.

............................

-Aleah-

I waited impatiently for Shiro to knock on my door. I went over in my head multiple times how I could ask for such a thing... I mean we only ever did it once and that was a spur of the moment thing.

I paced passed my mirror for what felt like the 15th time and stopped to check my reflection. If I had access to makeup I know I’d look amazing but being in the dead of space leaves me with my bare face.

Finally I hear the knock on my door.

“Who is it?” I called out, a formality.

“It’s me.” Shiro and replied. “You wanted to talk?”

I cleared my throat and quickly fixed my hair in the mirror again. “Yes. One second!”

I sped walk to the door and took a second to breathe and catch my breath. With one last exhale I opened the door and saw the sincere Shiro I’ve come to know.

“Hey.” He smiled.

“Hey, come in.” I stepped aside to let him walk past me.

“Is everything ok?” He cut right to the point.

I shut the door before shyly looking at him.

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” I pushed a piece of hair behind my ear. “Just... wanted to talk.”

He walked further into my room. “Well, I’m here.” He dropped himself on one of the chairs. “What did you want to talk about?”

Did he seem nervous? What could he be nervous about? Oh my god, does he know? Is he to nice to turn me down and doesn’t know how to?!

“Um, right. Well, I just wanted to talk about...”

Damn it, why is this so hard?! I’ve never had problems asking for sex before! But then again, Dwight was always the one to make the first move so I never had to. By the time I did, we were together for months and I was so comfortable with him. Shiro.... is different. He’s a very sweet and considerate guy... he wouldn’t even touch me if he didn’t think I’d be ok with it.

“About?” Shiro’s eye furrowed.

“About...” my mind began to race. What should I even say?!

He cleared his throat and laughed awkwardly. “I’m not going to lie, Aleah. I’m getting a little nervous.”

I covered my hands with my face and sighed. “You’re nervous?” I sat myself on the edge of my bed. “How do you think I feel? I’m the one who can’t get the words out.”

My eyes stayed covered as I tried to piece my words together. All my ideas would have either made me sound too desperate or too stupid.

The weight sinking in the bed told me Shiro moved to sit next to me.

“Are you.... having doubts?” He tried to ask nicely. “Because I know things have been a little slow lately, but if that’s what it is I want you to know is alright.”

My head snapped up out of my hands and looked at him. “What?”

His face reddened with wide eyes. “That’s why I’m here right? You want to break this off? Is that why you’re so nervous? If that’s what it is, you can talk to me about it, Aleah.”

The sweet look on his face broke my heart. I could tell he was starting to hurt on the inside.

“No.... no no no no no!” I shook my head violently. “That’s not it, I swear! I’m happy! Honestly!”

His features broke into a smile. “Well that’s a relief. But then what did you want to talk about?”

I bit my lip and move my eye contact to the ground. I felt so pathetic not being able to get the words out... how is this guy making me so shy?

His cold metal arm slid under my chin and made me look at him, but his attention wasn’t on me but my lip.

He looked at it like he was trying to find something. He was so deep in thought as his thumb gently caressed my lower lip.

“You don’t, by chance...” he looks back into my eyes with curiosity. “Want to be... intimate again... do you?”

The temperature in my face flared up noticeably.

“Um... yeah I guess so.” My eyes avoided his. “That’s... what I wanted to ask about... sorry.”

“For what?” His thumb moved to caress my cheek bone.

“For being too weird to ask on my own.”

Small chuckles from Shiro made me look up at him again. He carefully placed his forehead on mine. “Is that all?”

“Would you stop, I already feel weird about this.”

He exhaled a laugh and pressed a kiss onto my cheek.

“Don’t be. I already told you I’d do anything to make you happy again.”

He moved to press a passionate kiss on my neck and began to pepper my neck in more and more kisses.


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I’ve been AFK for so long. I haven’t really had the inspiration to continue and I didn’t like where the show was starting to head, so I was a little put off by that.... but that aside, here’s a chapter I had mostly written! If it’s a tad oddly written it’s because it’s still in beta. Thanks for the patience!

Chapter 30

-Aleah-

“You know,” Shiro muttered as he secured his arms around my tired naked form. “You don’t have to be shy about these kinds of things... I won’t judge you for it.”

I huffed a dry laugh. “I’m sorry, this is all still a little new to me believe it or not.” 

A soft kiss was placed on my forehead. “I understand. One step at a time.” I could tell from his tone that he was getting tired.

“I’m trying, I swear. One day I will get this whole thing down.” I muttered into his chest.

“I know you’re trying, Aleah. And I know one day you will. Until then, don’t be afraid to ask me anything.” He chuckles. “I think I’ve said that more than enough times at this point.”

I smiled to myself in the dark room and pulled Shiro closer. I did not respond. I only muttered a soft “Goodnight Shiro.” That he sweetly returned before we closed our eyes and fell asleep.

.............................

-Next morning-

“Everyone knows now, don’t they?” I pulled my tank top over my head.

“Seems like it.” Shiro responds, tying his boots up. “I’m not sure about Keith and Coran, but it seems everyone found out.”

I turned towards him, pushing my thick red hair to one side over my shoulder.

“Should we tell them? Is this something they need to know about?”

He gave a soft grin. “I’m not sure. Do you think we should tell them?”

“Do you think we should tell them?” I asked him back.

His face falls into a worried look which my face mirrored.

Do we tell them?

................................

“So next thing we know, we get a call from Lance on our communicator and he’s chained up to some tree on the other side of the planet and the girl takes Blue!”

I snort a laugh. “No way? Really? How did you get it back?!”

“Keith tracked them down and took it back.” Shiro chuckled.

We were walking towards the control room to see what everyone else was up to, when Shiro started telling me the story.

I roll my eyes as the control rooms doors slid open. “Classic Lance. I swear that boy thinks with his heart more than his head.”

“You two talking about me?” Lance’s cheerful voice pipes from the near empty control room of just himself, Keith, Coran, and Allura. He takes one look at our faces before groaning in annoyance.

“Hey... you didn’t tell her the story about Rolo and- SHIRO!” He whined when I started to giggle.

Shiro continues to walk past him, lightly grazing a hand on his shoulder. “We all make mistakes, Lance.”

“Sure we do.” Keith’s monotone voice adds. “I’m sure we all at one point or another get so crazy in love with some alien we just met and let them take our lion! It’s like a right of passage or something!”

Lance spins to face Keith. “Shut it, Angsty! At least my lion likes me!”

An annoyed Allura grumbles “Here we go again” as she messes with the projecting screen in front of her. 

“Can we not do this now, Gentlemen?” Coran groans. “The princess and I are trying to-“

“Red likes me.” Keith cuts in. “Just because I don’t act like a love sick dork with it doesn’t mean we don’t get along.”

Shiro groaned. “Not this early please? Save it for our training runs?”

Lance and Keith looked away from each other in a red faced huff.

I took a moment to look around noticing certain absences in the room.

“Where’s Trish?”

Keith’s annoyed expression leaves when his eyes focus on me. “Last time I saw her she was in one of the training rooms with Pidge and Hunk.”

Lance’s face changes into one of slight worry. “Yeah, I saw her there too. She was putting down some mean hits. Would hate to be one of those dummies.”

Keith breaths a short laugh through his nose. Lance snaps a look to him.

“Don’t you start with me!!”

As Keith and Lance started to argue, I placed a light touch on Shiro’s arm to get his attention.

“I’m going to go check on Trish. Whatever is bothering her, I’m going to make her talk to me.”

He slightly nods. “Alright, just do me a favor and have Pidge and Hunk go straight to their lions as soon as possible?”

I grinned. “Got it.” I took a quick look around the room to assure no one was looking and placed a quick peck on Shiro’s cheek. I spun on my heel and walked out the room, although not before hearing an upset Keith yell “WHAT WAS THAT?!”.

...................................

-Shiro-

“Where are those two?” I muttered to myself.

Keith, Lance, and I were floating around outside the castle in our lions waiting for the rest of the team to join us. After what felt like half an hour of no one coming, I started to worry.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t tell us about you and Aleah.” Keith groaned.

“It was pretty obvious.” Lance added.

“Well sorry I don’t spend my life with Trish figuring out what everyone is doing in their personal time!”

“Well if you did spend a little time with me and Trish, you would have found out a long time ago that what Aleah is doing in her personal time is Shir-“

“Lance.” I warned him.

I thought I heard what sounded like Keith stifle a laugh.

“Seriously, where are those guys?”

As if on queue, the projector in my lion turns on and shows Pidge. “Um, Shiro? I think you need to get back here.”

“Why aren’t you two out here? What are you doing?” I asked.

“Well we were about to head out when-“ she was cut off by yelling in the background, although I couldn’t understand what they were saying.

“Pidge? What’s going on?”

She sighs. “Aleah and Trish are fighting. Hunk and I tried to break them up but I can only push Aleah so far back. Allura is in here trying to defuse it but-“

“WHAT WAS THAT, AMKAE?!” Aleah’s voice blared in the background.

She groans again. “Just get here please? Before they break free and kill each other?”

I groaned to myself. “I’m on my way, just try to keep them as far away from each other as possible.”

.....................

The second I landed Black, I ran out of the hanger and straight to the training hall. It wasn’t hard to find the exact room since I just had to follow the yelling. 

Sure enough, as promised, Aleah and Trisha screaming at each other in Korean from different parts of the room. The room was trashed in training drones and weapons were on the floor. Hunk was holding back Trish while Allura held off Aleah.

“What is going on here?!” I yelled over them.

“I don’t know! That’s what we’ve been trying to figure out!” Hunk whined. “We keep trying to talk to them but they just yell over us! Help please?!”

I stepped in between the girls to cut off their sight from each other.

“What can you two possibly be arguing about?!”

“THATS WHAT I WANT TO KNOW!” Aleah shouted from behind Allura. “BUT AMKAE WONT TALK TO ME!”

“HA! IM THE AMKAE?! AIGOO! LOOK WHOS TALKING? I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE ME ALONE!”

“WHAT DID I DO?! WHY ARE YOU ALL PISSED AT ME ALL OF A SUDDEN?!”

“ITS NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS! I DONT WANT TO TALK TO YOU!”

“Shiro, please I can’t hold her off anymore!” Allura pleaded.

“I got her.” I took Allura’s place and held a firm arm around the front of Aleah’s waist. “Come one Aleah, just walk away from this please? She doesn’t want to talk yet.”

She looks up to me with anger flaring in her eyes only for the flames to quickly die down. Her red and flustered face started to clear up and just when I thought I had her calmed down...

“YEAH WALK AWAY WITH YOUR BOY TOY!”

Aleah’s eye snapped to Trish’s. “WHAT DID YOU CALL HIM?!”

Before I could register what happened, Aleah spun out of my grasp and made a run at Trish who broke free from Hunk. The girls collided and rolled around on the floor placing punches on one another.

“YOU WANT TO SAY THAT AGAIN?!”

“AY! BREAK IT UP!” I yelled in my loudest authoritative voice I could. When they didn’t respond I found it best just to manually scoop up Aleah myself and throw her over my shoulder. “This. Is. Over! I’m having both of you temporarily suspended from your duties and placing you both in your rooms until you can talk like adults and not argue like children! Hunk, take Trish to her room.”

I turned around with Aleah firmly on my shoulders, still squirming and yelling at Trish until Trish cut her off.

“NO ONE EVEN KNOWS WE’RE GONE!”

Aleah stopped moving, I stopped walking.

“What are you going on about?!” She yelled.

“On earth! No one knows that we’re gone! Ask any of the guys! They never even heard about us!” Trish’s voice starts to crack. “Everyone is dead and the only thing anyone back home knows about or cares about was the stupid Kerberos mission!!! The Garrison didn’t even ATTEMPT to cover it up because no one cared! No death report, no missing report! Nothing!” She broke into sobs.

“Wh-what?” Aleah started to quiver. “How can...”

“...it must be nice having Shiro around to help forget those kinds of things though, isn’t it?” Trish mumbles as she continues sobbing on the floor. Hunk immediately came to her aid and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

The shock that took over me washed away, the arm I was holding up Aleah tensed.

“Let’s get you back to your room.”

Aleah didn’t respond, she didn’t move. Once we were out of the training hall, I didn’t see a reason to have to carry her. I gently placed her back on the ground. Her eyes were glossy and she was desperately biting her lip to stop it from quivering.

“Sweethea-“

“Just go back to your training. I can walk from here.” She avoided eye contact with me. “I’m sorry to disrupt you guys. I shouldn’t have engaged so much with Trish. It won’t happen again.”

I placed a comforting hand on the side of her face and wiped away the stray tear.

“I don’t care about that right now. And don’t worry about the training we can do it later.”

She carefully pushed my hand off her face. Her voice beginning to strain.

“I need a moment alone right now. Please Shiro, I’ll just feel worse if I disrupt any of Voltron’s progression.”

I stood a moment, weighing my options. At the end of the day Voltron was technically a high priority, and it wouldn’t be such a great idea to deny a team exercise.

“Ok, I’ll leave you alone for a bit. But can I come check on you later?”

She didn’t reply, just shrugged her shoulders.

“Alright,” I held my hand on her lower back and leaned down to place a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll check on you later to see if you want some company.”

She nodded her head. “Thank you, Shiro.”

She stepped back and started walking down the hall. I only watched for a second before turning around and heading back to my lion to meet with everyone else.

...............................

-Shiro-

“Aleah?” I lightly knocked on her door. “Is everything ok?”

I listened intensely for a response but none came.

“Aleah? Darling, if you don’t want to talk it’s fine, just let me know you’re alright.”

Still no response. I sighed and decided that if I didn’t check on her physically then I would be worrying like crazy. I started to type her password into her keypad but immediately noticed it wasn’t lock. Was she not in there?

I slid the door open and did a quick survey of the room. She wasn’t here.

“Where did that girl go?” I mumbled to myself.

“Everything alright?” Lance passed by the room and popped himself in. “Wow this was the Princess’s room? Flashy...”

“Have you seen Aleah anywhere?”

He shook his head. “Not since before training.”

I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Maybe she went to make amends with Trisha?”

“Maybe. I’m going to go find them.”

Lance stepped aside and let me walk passed.

“Who knew Allura liked blue so much...” his cocky tone piped.

“Lance stay out of Aleah’s room.” I sighed as I kept walking away.

“I think you mean your room at this point!!”

I ignored his comment and went straight to Trish’s room.


End file.
